Armor of the Ninja Mage
by DragonMasterFlex
Summary: The Akatsuki trigger a fail safe in the Yondaime's seal sending Naruto away from the ninja world forever. He is taken in by Bahamut the King of all Dragons and is now a member of the guild Fairy Tail. The Challenger's NarutoXFairyTail NarutoXHarem
1. From Ninja to Mage

**Summary:** When the Akastuki attempt to extract the Kyuubi, a fail-safe in the seal placed by the Yondaime kicks in taking Naruto away from the ninja world forever. He is taken in for training by Bahamut the dragon king and is now a member of the guild Fairy Tail striving to build his own legend and defend his new home. The Challenger's NarutoXFairyTail challenge NarutoXHarem

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail, or Ronin Warriors

* * *

**From Ninja to Mage  
**

"So where to first ero-sennin?" asked Naruto. The two had been traveling for a few hours now since departing the leaf village for Naruto's training trip. The whole time so far Naruto had been bouncing around raving about all the new jutsus he was going to learn in three years, so he forgot to ask where they were going. They had just exited a forest and were following a path through a green hilly area.

"Show some respect brat!" grunted Jiraiya, _'I thought the jutsu craze would keep him occupied for another day at least. Kid is actaully getting sharper.'_

"Yeah, yeah whatever ero-sennin. Where are we going?" asked Naruto again.

"If you must know we are heading to the Temple of the Fire Monks just outside the eastern entrance of fire country. They will help turn that crap brawling style you have into actual taijustu..." he suddenly paused in the middle of his statement on full alert. Naruto noticed this and dropped into a ready stance of his own. His eyes darted around the area searching for what was out of place.

"What's going on?" questioned Naruto the playful tone now dropped from his voice. Jiraiya nodded up ahead and Naruto followed his eyes to the crest of the large hill behind the short hill in front of them. He was able to make out four figures slowly walking towards them.

"Looks this will be easy pickings, yeah?" stated one of four emerging figures coming over the hillside. They could now make out that the four figures were dressed in cloaks with red clouds came into clear view.

_'Akatsuki!'_ shot through the minds of both toad summoners.

"You said we had three years!" whispered an agitated Naruto. As good as Jiraiya was even Naruto knew he wouldn't be able to beat four of these guys at one time. They needed to find some means of escape back to the village. As strong as these four were they wouldn't stand a chance against the entire military force of a hidden village.

_'This is really bad. If I can activate Sage Mode, I'll possibly be able to stall them, while Naruto retreats to the village before having the toads summon me back to their realm. I'll have him use the escape plan we came up with after our last run in with these guys.' _thought Jiraiya as he began making signals to Naruto.

"Plans change kid, it's the nature of the business. Deidara, Kakuzu, Itachi and Kisame? Isn't this overkill for one kid?" questioned Jiraiya as the four Akatsuki had reached the crest of the hill in front of them.

"The kid is easy pickings, we came here for you old man." stated a smirking Kisame.

"We do not come across one as skilled as yourself quite often Jiraiya of the Sannin. If you fight well enough perhaps I will replace one of my hearts with yours." added Kakuzu.

"Naruto-kun, come with us and your sensei can live." offered Itachi.

"I think you guys are underestimating us. Now Naruto!" yelled Jiraiya as he went through the hand signs and slammed his hands on the ground to summon. Naruto made the hand sign for Kage Bushin and smoke suddenly filled the area blinding their opponents. When it cleared it revealed Jiraiya with two old toads sitting in his shoulder, two copies of him standing to his right, and nearly a thousand Narutos with various toads accompanying him filling the area behind him.

"They said the kid had a lot of chakra, but this is insane. Perhaps after the extraction is done I'll use his heart as well." commented Kakuzu.

"All this chakra has Samehada exited for a good meal." gloated Kisame.

"Such disrespectful children Ma!" commented one of the toads on Jiraiya's shoulder.

"Yes, we should help Jiraiya-chan teach them some manners!" replied the other.

"It seems we have no choice. Kill the Sannin and capture the Jinchuriki." ordered Itachi.

"MOVE IT!" yelled Jiraiya as he engaged Kakuzu and Kisame while his clones pursued Itachi and Deidara. The Naruto clones and toads jumped into action all fleeing in random directions through the forest they just exited. Deidara summoned a bird of clay and took to the air in attempt to strike down the clone army from above the forest, however Jiriaya's clone used a couple of fireballs to steer him away from Naruto's escape. Itachi stared all the clones down with his spinning Mangekyou Sharingan eyes as Jiraiya's clone approached him before withdrawing a kunai and throwing at one of the toads fleeing with the mass of clones. It struck right through the toads right shoulder pinning it to a tree. In a puff of smoke it revealed itself to be the real Naruto. He began leak Kyuubi chakra, when suddenly Itachi appeared in front of him and everything went black. Itachi removed the kunai and lifted the boy up into the air. Deidara glided by on his clay bird and the bird swallowed Naruto up. The Itachi in front of the Jiraiya clone dissolved into a flock of ravens that swarmed the clone forcing it to dissolve into mud.

"Take him back to base so leader can place him in stasis for the extraction. I will help finish off Jiraiya." ordered Itachi as he returned his attention to the skirmish will Jiraiya.

"Sure just take all the fun, yeah. I hope leader doesn't plan capture the rest this way. It would be too easy." complained Diedara as he flew away.

"DAMMIT! NARUTO!" yelled Jiraiya as he tried to escape to save him only to be walled of by two masks of Kakuzu.

"Nothing personal old man, like you said before it's just the nature of the business!" Kisame yelled as he forced Jiraiya to dodge a swing from Samehada.

Naruto grimaced in pain as he slowly awakened. He had no idea how much time had passed since he was knocked out, all he could remember was Itachi appearing in front of him, then nothing. He tried to move only to find himself paralyzed from the neck down and his mouth gagged. Odd cylindrical black rods were stabbed into his arms and legs. He looked down to see himself shirtless and bound on the center of a large stone circular tablet. A dark-haired man wearing Akatsuki robes and an orange spiral mask was leaning over him staring down at his exposed seal.

"The sealing abilities of the Yondaime Hokage are truly unrivaled. If we had not taken down Jiraiya and utilized the notes from his instructions on how to tweak the seal we might never have managed to crack this thing." spoke the man as he scratched his chin.

_'Dammit! Not ero-sennin!' _thought Naruto as he grunted. The last images he had of Jiraiya staring down the Akastuki flashed through his mind._  
_

"Yes, we had to take him out for obvious reasons, but don't blame us. Your own village sold you two out, well not the whole village just the council. They figured they could pull a fast one on me by simply coughing you up in exchange for not attacking their precious village. They figured we couldn't crack the seal, but they didn't figure on us taking down Jiraiya and stealing his knowledge! What fools! Don't worry, one of my associates has a grudge against your village, he'll take revenge for you!" stated the man cheerfully. Naruto merely possessed a look of horror, then anger, followed by defeat. Then suddenly there was a spark of hope and defiance in his eyes.

_'I'm going to die anyway, I might as well release the fox and take them all down with me!'_ thought Naruto has he attempted to retreat into his mind to cage in the sewers holding back the fox only to find that he couldn't enter his mind scape. After a few tries he began to panic.

"Ah, trying to do the classic, _'I'm takin them down with me!'_? Too bad we already tweaked your seal to cut you off from the Kyuubi completely! Good try though!" patronized the man as he wagged his finger at Naruto.

"Madara, it's time." stated an orange haired man with piercings all over his face that appeared on the fringes of Naruto's vision.

"Well, it has been fun young one, but all good things must come to an end. Have fun on the other side eh kid? Look at bright side at least you won't be seen as the Kyuubi anymore." said Madara as he backed up a short distance away. The orange haired man now stood in front of Naruto and began flipping through various hand seals before stopping at ram. The black rods in Naruto's body began to glow with a white aura. Naruto felt himself fully paralyzed when the seal holding back the fox gained a blueish glow.

"Good, so it's working after all." stated Madara when suddenly the seal started to spin at a high rate and a blue column of chakra emitted from it.

"What is this!" exclaimed the orange haired man.

"Pein, what's going on!" yelled Madara.

"The seal it's acting on it's own! I'm not controlling it!" he replied. The chakra column died down and a poof of smoke appeared to reveal the kneeling form of the Yondaime Hokage.

"Impossible! You've been inside the seal the whole time!" exclaimed Madara.

The Yondaime looked at him with recognition, "It's you the one who sent the Kyuubi. I knew you would come back for it. That's why I added this small addition to the seal at the last minute. A fail-safe, if you will, to protect my son if need be."

He looked down at Naruto, "I know you're probably angry with me for giving you this burden, but you were the only one I could trust not to abuse this power. You've done well my son, from here on out you won't have to carry this world on your shoulders anymore. My fail-safe was to send you to another place, a dimension that you will only be able to travel to one time and stay there forever. Good luck Naruto, know that I'm proud of you and believe in you." He then placed his hand in front of the seal and it suddenly gained a golden glow, soon the glow encompassed Naruto's entire body.

"You will not foil my plans again!" yelled Madara as he and Pein attacked the Yondaime only to phase right through him.

"It's too late, my body hear is only a chakra construct. Shinigami-sama allowed my consciousness to appear hear because of the contract we made. " stated the Yondaime as he and Naruto suddenly disappeared in a flash of bright light.

"Damn him! The moon's eye plan ruined! All my plans ruined!" exclaimed Madara in rage.

Makarov sighed as he leaned back against the rock he was sitting in front of and took a long sip of the cup of ale he held. He had been on his way back to Magnolia town when he decided to take a detour through the mountains to check in on his old friend Bahamut the king of dragons. One of Bahamut's mountains was merely a cover for his stockpiling of barrels of ale he would pilfer from time to time. After days of dealing with those fools in the council, he really needed to kick back and have a few drinks. They had been on his guild's case again for their blatant disregard of the rules and regulations established by the council. He finally became fed up with their useless bickering and told them exactly where they could shove their idiotic regulations before rubbing their faces in the fact that Fairy Tail was the number one guild for client satisfaction by a wide margin. He went to take another sip to find his cup only to find it empty. After finding the barrel he was drinking from empty, he moved to open another.

"This ale isn't free ya know. I'll be expecting two barrels of that rum you get shipped in from the Eastern Port in return." commented Bahamut as he eyed Makarov opening another barrel.

"Not like you pay for this.." grumbled Makarov as he poured himself another cup.

"What was that?" questioned Bahamut with a pointed glare.

"I said even Igneel has adopted a kid to train, what about you? I figure the Dragon King would want to have his own pupil to parade as the toughest mage around." suggested Makarov attempting to change the subject.

"You act like kids just fall out the sky these days! Besides I won't take in just anybody! I have a reputation to keep up!" countered a snorting Bahamut.

"Yeah, yeah you just don't want anybody cramping your style. Be hard to drink, pick up chicks, and cause mischief while lugging a kid around." retorted Makarov.

"Exactly! I'm not getting any younger! I've got to make good use of my prime years!" replied the dragon as he took another gulp of ale. Both drinkers were distracted by a bright flash of white light that originated from high in the sky. They looked to see something falling towards the ground from high up above the mountain tops where the light originated at fast speeds. Makarov's eyes widened as he made out what it was.

"It's a person!" he yelled as he raised his arms up sending out a swirl of winds to slow their descent. His actions cause the person's speed to slow down to a float. Bahamut had taken to the skies swooping around to catch them on his back before descending back to the ground. As he landed he used his tail to grab the person from his back and place him on the ground in front of Makarov. Makarov leaned down to check them over. The person turned out to be a young boy with blond hair and whisker like marks on his cheeks. He was shirtless with a necklace on and some strange markings on his stomach. After finding that the boy was breathing and had a steady pulse he checked over his extremities finding what looked like stabbing wounds on the boys arms and legs.

"The boy appears to be fine, but he looks like he got roughed up pretty good." commented Makarov as he looked over his body checking out other small wounds.

"Where did he come from?" pondered Bahamut aloud as he looked back into the sky where the boy appeared.

"Well you said you wouldn't take just anybody, so this kid decided to just fall out of the sky for you. Ready made so he wouldn't cramp your style." joked Makarov.

"Hmph! We don't know anything about him! He could be some weakling!" proclaimed Bahamut.

After patching up the wounds as best he could Makarov poured some water down the boy's throat. This seemed to jump start the kid as he began to stir. Suddenly his eyes blinked open and he sat up taking a look around. His eyes landed on Makarov and he seemingly blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Hey old man this must be the fire temple right? Where's ero-sennin? He must have put me in a genjustu to knock me out cause I was annoying him. It was crazy! I got captured by the teme's brother and then this weird dude in a orange mask was talking to me. For an evil guy was weird trying to act all nice and all. What's so nice about trying to kill me ya know? Oh! And then the Yondaime appeared and he was like 'I'm your dad!'. I was like 'What the hell man! You put a demon in your son's gut!' but then I was like 'Holy crap! I'm freakin son of the Yondaime! I rule!' Then I woke up. Hey do you guys have any ramen? Whoa! A dragon summon awesome! I wish I didn't have toads now, dragons are way cooler. Hah! The teme owes me money, he said there was no dragon summons..." Naruto just rambled on and on, only to finally to be silenced by the laughter of Bahamut.

"Hey what are you laughing at! I don't care if you are a super cool dragon! I'm Naruto Uzumaki I'll still kick your ass!" declared Naruto shaking his fist at the dragon. This prompted Bahamut to laugh even harder and Makarov to snicker.

"Don't mind him he's had too much to drink -"Hey!"- anyway I'm not quite sure about what you just said, but you just happened to fall out of the sky not not fifteen minutes ago." said Makarov.

"What are you talking about old man? Where's ero-sennin?" asked Naruto with a confused expression.

"Maybe I can clear things up." stated Makarov.

Makarov placed his hand on Naruto's head and sifted through his memories and thoughts. Bahamut had placed the tip of his tail on Makarov's shoulder to also tap into the connection.

"Ah, I see now." stated Makarov removing his hand from Naruto's head.

"What? What?" asked Naruto impatiently.

"What happened to you was not a dream my young friend. It was all true. In a stroke of good fortune, your father's seal really did send you here successfully. However, I'm sorry to say that he was correct in there being no way for you to return." he said observing the boy for his reaction. A frown appeared on Naruto's face as he took it all in.

_'Dammit, now I can't become hokage or keep my promise. But, being a Hokage is about making tough choices me being gone forever keeps everyone safe from those psychos, not just my precious people, the whole world! I have to do it's what the old man or even my dad would have done.' _thought Naruto as a spark of determination appeared in his eyes once again.

"It's no big deal if this keeps my friends safe, then I'm all for it. Besides I'm the son of the Yondaime I can deal with anything." he stated proudly.

"Well said, ah I guess we should introduce ourselves. This is here his Bahamut the dragon king and I'm Makarov Guildmaster of Fairy Tail."

"Eh, what the heck is a guild master and a fairy tail?" questioned Naruto scratching the back of his head.

"Thats right, I should explain this world to you..." said Makarov as he launched into a detailed explanation about the world, mages, guilds and even the council. After he was done Naruto just stared at him with a completely dumbfounded expression.

"Eh, could you say that one more time?" asked a puzzled Naruto. Bahamut snorted before jumping in.

"Let me give this a shot Makarov. Hey kid you know those ninja villages in your home world? Their kind of like the guilds in this world. The mages are like ninjas and guildmasters are like the kages. And mages wield magic instead of chakra." stated Bahamut.

"Ah, I get it now!" exclaimed Naruto as he nodded sagely.

_'How in the world did that make sense to him?' _thought Makarov.

Deep within Naruto's mind behind a door labeled "Knowledge" several Narutos were sitting at desks writing on various scrolls. One of the Narutos jumped up and threw away the scroll he was just working on entitled "The New World" before he grabbed a scroll labeled "How the World Works" a simply started replacing the words ninja with mage, chakra with magic, etc.

"Hey, kid since you're new here what do you think about joining my guild? We can offer you exciting jobs that are just like missions! They'll be way better than those boring missions you had to put up with!" proposed Makarov. Naruto merely stared at Makarov with an intense look of concentration while scratching his chin.

"What?" questioned Makarov he figured from the kids personality the missions would make it an easy sell.

"You remind of me of old man Hokage, so I'll join." finally answered a grinning Naruto. Apparently the kid wasn't as simple minded as he thought.

"Excellent, perhaps I could take a talented kid like you on as an apprentice..." began Makarov as he scratching his chin in thinking fashion only to be stopped by Bahamut.

"There will be no need for that. A kid like this is exactly what I was looking for. He's got guts and is tougher than nails, he'll be training under me." stated Bahamut.

"Who says you get to keep him? A young talent like this would do wonders under my tutelage with Fairy Tail. He's a shining example of the true spirit of our guild." countered Makarov.

Deep within Naruto's mind in a room behind a door labeled "Decision-Making" a Naruto dressed like Jiraiya riding atop a dragon did battle with a Shadow clone army of Narutos dressed like the third Hokage.

"I tell you what, you let me take the kid under my wing and I'll let you keep your rum. After he's done he can go join your little guild." offered Bahamut.

"Deal!" declared Makarov while on the inside he thinking, _'Haha sucker! I acquire a new recruit for the guild, don't have to train him, and keep my rum!'_

"Wait a minute, you're a dragon so what exactly will you be teaching me? It's not like you can do human stuff." questioned Naruto.

"Who needs that weak human magic! You will learn to wield the five elemental armors crafted from the scales of the most powerful dragons to ever have existed!" proclaimed Bahamut.

"You're pretty lucky kid, most dragon's just grant their pupils the ability of dragon-slayer magic limiting them to one element. You'll get five! The dragon style requip magic is particularly powerful. Even I've never seen the armors of Wildfire, Torrent, Halo, Hardrock, and Strata in action." elaborated Makarov.

Bahamut was now giving Naruto an appraising eye trying to get a good sense for his current powers. "I will also help you augment the abilities you already possess, it seems your journey here converted your old chakra into your own brand of magic. It seems your old ninja techniques are now your personal magical style independent of what I will teach you."

"Yes, I can sense it too. How curious I wonder if that was a natural occurrence by your arrival or a result of your seal?" contemplated Makarov.

"I think it was nature balancing him out as the fox's power no longer mingles with his own. Though it still exists inside him they are now completely independent of one another." replied Bahamut.

"Does that mean it can break free?" asked Naruto.

"No, it is trapped within its own realm inside of you. Also, I no longer sense the malevolence your memories tending to associate with its powers. It's as if its energies have been balanced out." answered Makarov.

"Maybe, we should go check it out." suggested Naruto.

"We can't do that for just as the fox cannot reach out to you, you cannot reach out to it. Very curious..." said Bahamut.

"We can figure all this out later. Come along now you should come meet the guild before you start your training so you can become an official mage." ordered Makarov.

"Get him some new clothes too, no more of that orange kid. You do need your clothes to gain attention anymore your skills will do the talking." added Bahamut.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Hey can we stop for ramen? I'm starving!" exclaimed Naruto as his stomach growled.

"What the hell is ramen?" said Makarov with a straight face. A look of utter horror crossed Naruto's face,_ 'No ramen...'_

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed causing Makarov and Bahamut to erupt with laughter.

_'Too easy!'_ they thought.

* * *

**_1.5 Years Later_**

"I'll never get tired of seeing this place." stated Naruto as he admired the giant Fairy Tail sign while walking into the door of the guild. Bahamut liked to him send back to Fairy Tail every so often to rack up experience by doing jobs and break up the monotony of training all the time. Recently his training had prevented him from taking a job for four months, so he badly needed to kick some ass. As he entered he came face to face with the usual sight that he found even on the first day he entered, a giant brawl._  
_

"And people used to call me hyperactive..." he muttered as he walked through brawl avoiding getting sucked in and moved past the bar right over to the job postings. His time spent training under Bahamut and had mellowed him out a bit. Now he actaully paused to think about things before then throwing a punch, the delay often caught people off guard. He would normally join in a good brawl, but he really wanted to get out on a job. He quickly scanned the wall when his eyes came across the posting of a B-Rank job with decent pay. He saw another hand starting to reach for it so he snatched it quickly and started to read it.

_'So glad old man Makarov took my ninja experience into account when I got my mage license allowing me to skip those lame ass job equivalent's to D-rank missions...'_ his thoughts were interrupted by a white haired girl jumping in his face.

"What do you think you're doing! A punk like you doesn't deserve that job, it's mine!" she screamed at him.

"_White hair, blue eyes, goth clothing..oh no.._Not you again!" groaned Naruto. Ever since this girl Mirajane first laid eyes on him all she'd done was pick fights with him. She used to get under his skin, but now he just got her riled up for the fun of it.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean you jerk?" she said poking her finger into his chest.

"Not even a crazy bitch like you is going to ruin today! My first mission in six months!" he suddenly felt a chill down his spine and looked in front of him to see the eyes of a demon looking to claim his soul, "Shit, I said that out loud didn't I."

"It was nice knowing you man." said Elfman from behind Mirajane as he bowed and gave a quick prayer.

"DIE!" she screamed as he jumped on top of him and pummeled him into oblivion.

"Mira-nee always so violent." Lisanna shook her head as she watched from beside her brother. A moment latter Mirajane stood and dusted her hands off while admiring the now bruised and blooded form of Naruto.

"Serves you right!" she gloated until Naruto suddenly turned into a puff of smoke.

"I don't have time to play with you today, maybe next time!" rang the voice of a snickering Naruto who was walking out the main door.

"ARGH! That bastard! I'm going to kill him!" she screamed.

"Mira-nee if you like him so much you shouldn't be so mean to him all the time." commented Lisanna.

"Hmph! Who would like a loser like him!" she replied turning her nose up at the thought. However, Elfman spotted the slight blush on her face and decided to tease her.

"You usually just insult everyone else as you walk by like they're not worth your time. He's the only one you actually take the time to pick fights with! You're way to obvious." He soon found himself flying through a wall courtesy of her fist.

"Not another word." she threatened before snatching a job off the wall. "Common Lisanna we'll show that punk who's who around here. I bet that mission sucked anyway." she said as she stomped off with Lisanna following behind her.

Naruto was now catching a ride out to an island on a medium sized speed boat captained by a old man and his dog. Since he had no other passengers the old man gave him a discount for the short trip across the sea. Naruto leaned over the side of the boat clad in a dark red sleeveless shirt and black gloves and headband along with black pants with red trim. Tsunade's necklace hung around his neck. He scanned over the details of the job one more time.

**_B Class Job_**

_Threat levels - medium_

_Pay - 100000 J  
_

_Task- Group of Cultists illegally captured citizens and are using them as slaves. Using them to build paradise tower AKA R-system in order to resurrect the spirit of the Black Mage Zeref. Take out cultists, free the illegal slaves, and destroy the tower to prevent resurrection of Zeref._

_'This isn't B Class job because of the difficulty, but the amount of work that needs to be done. I could free the slaves first, they might be eager for some payback or I could just swamp the whole tower with shadow clones or maybe both. I hope there is at least one good fight, then maybe I can awaken one of these damn armors!'  
_

While initially excited that he would be wielding the elemental armors he found that awakening his abilities was not a simple process. He scratched the tattoo of the symbol for fire that now displayed on his right shoulder. He now possessed a tattoo for each of the five armors on his right arm in addition to his fairy tail tattoo on his upper left shoulder, but he had yet to acquire the ability to wield one. Each tattoo represented the linking of the armors magic with his own. "The armors are nearly sentient so when the time is right the armor will come to you" Bahamut had told him over and over again. His patience was beginning to run thin though.

_'It's almost been 2 years! I should be able to wield at least one by now!' _he thought to himself,_ "Oh well I can't dwell that now it's mission time. The improvements we've made on my ninja skills will carry me through.'_

"Land Ho!" shouted the old man from his steering wheel as the dog barked in response.

Naruto stood up looking to see they had reached the target island. He tossed the old guy a tip before jumping off boat and onto shore.

"Thanks for the ride old man." he said waving over his shoulder as he walked away.

"No problem, Fairy Tail looks out for one another." he said flashing Naruto the Fairy Tail tattoo on his wrist as he turned the boat around to head back in the other direction.

_'No wonder I didn't see an engine. He was using his magic to power it.'_ thought Naruto as walked away from the shore. Suddenly the paper in his hand for the job vanished into thin air.

"What the hell?" he shouted, shocked by it before shaking his head and turning to look up at the massive structure in front of him, "So this is Paradise Tower, what a bunch of nut jobs. Alright first I break out the slaves then, then I bring this place down."

In front of him was the main gate of the tower. He used a Rasengan to bust down the gate revealing several paths and tunnels. He formed several clones to search out for the location he desired. He waited patiently for a few minutes before one of his clones dispelled relaying the location of the slaves to him. He the descended down the stairs of the tunnel to the far right.

Down in the cells the slaves sat quietly agonizing over their predicament. There was a creaking sound as the cell gate suddenly swung open and the slaves looked up to see the trembling form of a shackled Erza entering.

"Hey nee-san you're okay!" exclaimed on of the children.

"Idiot look at her how can you say she's okay!" replied an older boy.

"What about Gerard, he said he was going to get past those guys to save you..." asked another boy before an old man cut him off.

"Just let her sit quietly, poor girl must have suffered a lot in the punishment chamber."

Erza didn't respond to any of them, just kept slowly walking forward.

"But what about Gerard..." the old man shook his head to silence him but he kept on speaking, "I bet he got caught and taken in her place. Those bastards!"

"I WANT TO GO HOME!" yelled one of the crying children.

"What's all the racket in here!" yelled one of the cultists as he and another guard stormed the cell.

"Calm down Shou!" pleaded a boy as he tried to comfort the child.

"It's okay Shou-kun, Gramps is here." said the old man trying to help as well.

"You better shut up you little whelp before I cut your tongue out!" yelled one of the guards. He suddenly began choking and grasped his throat. Everyone saw the tip of a knife sticking out of the front of his throat as blood gushed from his neck before he collapsed to the ground dead. They all sat there stunned and not saying a word.

"What the hell was that!" yelled the other guard before his eyes suddenly rolled up the back of his head as he collapsed. When his body hit the floor three kunai knives could be seen sticking out of his back.

"Two assholes down plenty more to go." rang out a voice. They all turned to see the form of Naruto holding more knives in his hands with traces of blood splashed over his clothing. Footsteps were heard as a group of twenty cultists charged around the corner and came face to face with the scene.

"It's him the intruder! Kill him now!" roared the man in front.

"Time to get wild!" he yelled as began to rush forward to take down the charging cultists. He formed four shadow clones to even out the numbers he began to cut them down left and right. About twelve of them surrounded him to cut him off from the slaves as the rest of the group marched forward to the cells the leader of this guard group among them.

"One of you must be responsible somehow! No one should know about this island! No matter he'll soon be dead and as example to all slaves some of you will die! Starting with you!" he pointed the tip of his spear at Shou and started charging forward when shout rang out.

"RASENGAN!" yelled Naruto as the spiraling sphere shot forward out of his hand like a bullet into the side of the cultist send him crashing into a wall. He then slumped to the ground dead with a massive hole in his torso leaking blood.

"Yo, you guys just gonna stand there or are you going to fight for your freedom! These guys are nothing but pansies!" he yelled back at them while ducking a stab before landing a kick that sent an enemy flying.

His words cause Erza's eyes to widen as she remembered what Gerard had told her. _"We have to fight..."_

She gained a determined glint in her eye as she picked up one of the dropped weapons before charging forward and cutting through the reaming cultists in front of them. Even Naruto and his clones stared in awe as she proceeded to slice the remaining cultists to shreds.

_'Where did that come from? She took out the other half by herself!'_ he thought.

"We won't become free by following orders or running away," she said turning around to face her fellow slaves, "We have to Fight! Stand up for Freedom!"

Inspired by her words the rest of the slaves stood up and armed themselves with what they could find.

"Follow me! I'll show you the way out!" yelled Naruto as he ran up the stairs.

After arriving outside from the cells, Naruto and the slaves came face to face with an army of cultists hell-bent on squashing the revolt.

"You think you can rebel! Put them all down!" yelled the head of the cultist army.

The sides charged in a massive clash with the slaves fighting tooth and nail for their freedom.

"You won't take advantage of us! Kill them all! Kill all the slaves!" yelled the cultists.

"We have the numbers! We will have our freedom!" roared the slaves. Naruto was at the head of the charge cutting down cultist left and right with brutal efficiency. He formed to clones to aid in the battle, which didn't go unnoticed by the cultists.

"That kid he's not one of the slaves he's a mage! Call in the magicians to take him down!" yelled a cultist.

"Shit!" yelled Naruto as he looked to Erza, "You seem to be the leader of these guys, stick to regular cultists I'll handle the magicians."

"Wait, you can't do it alone! I can help you!" she replied.

"Don't worry I'm a Fairy Tail Mage I can take it!" he grinned before he jumped over the cultists in front of him and charged the incoming magicians.

_'He's like Ojii-san...A real Fairy Tail mage...'_ she thought stunned.

"You bastards think you can take illegal slaves and no one would find out about it! All to resurrect some stupid god? You answer to me! ODAMA RASENGAN!" He formed a Rasengan the size of his body and threw it at the Magicians lined up to fight him. The attack plowed through their ranks leaving a huge trench in its wake. The Magicians regrouped and began to rapidly fire blasts of magical energy from their staffs. Naruto countered by forming a group of clones and who proceeded to dodge their attacks and fire Rasengans in retaliation. One of the Magicians noticed he had directed their fire away from the rebels taking the brunt of their attack by himself. Seizing the opportunity he jumped behind his fellow warriors using them as cover and took aim at the rebels and fired a blast directly towards Erza.

"Erza!" yelled old man Rob as he dove in front of her to take the blast. He braced himself for the hit, but was stunned as it never came. He open his eyes to see a smoking Naruto crouched in front of him with his arms crossed.

"That was a cheap shot!" grunted a panting Naruto as he staggered to his feet. The blast hadn't hurt him too much, but it took a lot of energy to block it.

"This boy...incredible..." uttered Rob in awe. Now up close to the boy he got a good look at the Fairy Tail tattoo on his arm.

"What are you going to do now boy! There's no way you can keep this up! Just give up now and your death will be painless!" declared one of the magicians.

The guy was right, Naruto while possessing massive reserves of his own, being cut off from the Kyuubi's power put a halt to him having an infinite supply of power. Still he wasn't going down without a fight. He still possessed one thing that was greater than any of theirs, willpower.

"I don't care if you have another million people on your side! I'll never give up! I won't stop until all these people are free!" he yelled digging deeper than he ever dug before for energy.

"Tajuu Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" he declared forming enough clones to outnumber the cultist five to one.

"What is this kid!" one of them yelled.

"He's on his last legs crush him!" another yelled. They started to charge only to be halted in their tracks as bunch of weapons had raised in to the air above the clone army pointed at them.

"What is this?" they yelled.

Everyone turned to see Erza with her hands raised in the air.

"I won't give up, we won't give up until everyone is free!" she yelled as the weapons launched towards the magicians. They tried to flee unsuccessfully as the mass of weapons cut them down to shreds.

"Awesome nee-san can use magic too!" exclaimed one of the kids.

"With two magic users this good there's no way we can lose!" declared another.

The remaining cultists stared at them in horror.

"COME WITH ME!" yelled Erza lifting her sword into the air.

"COMMON EVERYBODY! LETS GET WILD!" roared the Narutos leading the charge.

The cultists were now on their heels and soon overwhelmed by the slave revolt and Naruto's clones. As the rebels drove the cultists back, the deserters were ambushed by another group of Naruto clones waiting for them at the docks. When the battle started Naruto had set aside a group of clones to protect the young children who couldn't fight and lead them to a ship. The kids and the clones prepared the ship for the slaves escape from the Island. Now that the battle was over everyone moved to the ship excited that their freedom was finally secured.

"Hey, where's Erza?" questioned an older boy.

"She went to find Gerard." replied Rob.

"Nee-san should have been back by now." stated a little girl.

"Shit, you guys go ahead and take off. I'll find Erza and catch up." said Naruto as he turned and ran back towards the tower.

"What's the rush? We can wait." asked the older boy from before.

"I got orders to blow this place sky high. It wouldn't do any good for you guys to be around when that happened. Don't worry I'll make sure that she's safe." he shouted over his shoulder.

"Alright, then good luck!" yelled Rob as Naruto ran back inside.

When Erza arrived at Gerard's location she freed him from his restraints, but then noticed that something was off. He started spouting nonsense about how true freedom was right here and he wasn't leaving. He then used some strange magic to kill some cultists that had been beaten and were barely clinging to life. She pleaded with him to run away and how all their friends were waiting for him, but then he started ranted about Zeref and completing the tower. She thought he was acting strange because he was tortured and declared that they leaving. He then turned on her. Gerard lifted his hand and released a blast of magic sending Erza flying down a tunnel, before she landed skidding along the ground. She rolled over onto her stomach groaning.

"Go ahead, if you want to leave so much then go ahead on your own. However, the rest of your friends will stay here with me to finish this tower. I won't be like them ruling through force and fear. I will give them clothes, food, and the privilege of working for the great mage Zeref!" he proclaimed.

"What are you talking about! Everyone is waiting for us, no one will come back to work here! Open your eyes Gerard..." she was silenced by Gerard lifting up his hand and using his dark magic to choke her.

"I don't need you anymore. As a reward for getting rid of those nuiscances I won't kill you. You can go and find your fleeting 'freedom'." he stated.

"Ge...rard..." she gasped out.

"I'll trust you not to speak of this to anyone, if the government were to find out about this tower of paradise plan everything would be ruined. I would have to destroy the evidence of this tower and eliminate all the workers. You can never return here, if you do I'll start killing all your little friends! How bout I start with Shou..or even better that old man you're so fond of! hahaha!" he cackled with evil laughter as he tightened the grip on her throat.

"No..." she gasped out with tears pouring out of her eyes.

"That is your precious 'Freedom'! Live on with the lives of your nakama resting on your back Erza! AHAHAHAHA!" cackled Gerard only to be blindsided by a punch to the face that sent him flying.

"Not in this lifetime asshole. She's already free." a voice declared. Gerard scrambled to his feet to see the sight of Naruto holding a crying Erza.

"Who the hell are you! What are you doing here!" Gerard demanded.

"Me? I'm a Fairy Tail mage. What I'm doing? Starting a slave revolt, killing off cultists, destroying this tower, but for some reason since seeing this girl cry really seems to piss me off, I'm going to be kicking your ass." Naruto leveled a glare right at Gerard.

"Just, great the fucking government has found out already!" Gerard yelled.

"I'm pretty sure that if the government knew about all this, they'd have sent more than me." retorted Naruto.

"Then how...eh it doesn't matter. One lowly mage! Big mistake, you can't compete with the power of Zeref!" he cackled with glee. He launched a blast of magic at Naruto, but he dodged by jumping to the side. Naruto then knelt down to lean Erza against the wall of the cavern they were in.

"I know what's it's like to be looked down upon, to be treated like I was less than a person. What you're doing isn't the answer! Do you see you're doing nothing but continuing what they started!" roared Naruto.

"Why do you care! These people are nothing to you!" exclaimed Gerard.

"Maybe to me, but I've seen her give everything to fight for her friends and to fight for you! I know what it's like to be all alone and to have a friend turn on me. If you do this, that's exactly what will happen her and I won't let anyone else experience that hell!" he yelled as he rose to his feet.

Suddenly he felt a pulse of Magical energy from inside him and he looked down to see his tattoo for fire glowing red.

_'I can feel it calling out to me...'_ he thought as he was lifted up into the air

"ARMOR OF WILDFIRE! DAO JIN!" he yelled as his body was engulfed in flash of red light. Gerard looked upon him in shock. The light faded away leaving an abundance of smoke which soon cleared to reveal Naruto suited up in a red and white armor holding two katanas.

"What are you..." stammered Gerard.

"Her friends lives will not be placed on her back, these people will be free! I'm burning this place to the ground." said Naruto as he stuck the hilts of the Katana together at their ends before lifted the weapon up behind his head. The blades soon began to glow with energy.

"Stop this! You don't know what you're doing!" exclaimed Gerard.

"I know exactly what I'm doing! FLARE UP NOW!" yelled Naruto as he launched his attack swinging the weapon forward. The blast hit Gerard before curving upwards tearing through all the floors of the tower. Naruto sheathed his blades behind his back as turned back towards Erza with the building beginning to collapse behind him. As he leaned down to pick her up he found that she was still conscious.

"Thank you..." she whispered before passing out in his arms. He smiled before running back out the way he came in as the tower began to collapse behind him.

As he reached the end of the tunnel leading out he took a giant leap from the edge of the tunnel all the way to the shore. The tower behind him collapsed into one big pile of rubble. He looked back at the remains before looking down at himself decked out in the armor carrying Erza bridal style.

_'Just what in the hell is this armor? As soon as it appeared on me, it was like I had been wearing it and wielding those blades my whole life. And the power of that one attack was incredible! I can't wait to experience the others. Now how do I release it..there!'_ Naruto closed eyes and suddenly the armor glowed with a red light before vanishing from his body leaving him in his mildly tattered clothing. He looked down on his arm and notice that the tattoo for fire was now colored red as if to signify its awakening. Also a new tattoo had formed beneath he others, it was the symbol for fox.

_'Where the hell did that come from? And what does it mean? I'll have to ask old man Makarov or Bahamut about this. Now what to do with you?' _he thought looking down at Erza._  
_

"Hey, kid! Nice job!" a voice rang out.

He looked up to see the old man in the boat with his dog who gave him a ride out here.

"Old man? Hey you know what happened to the others?" he asked.

"They're fine took the cultists ship and high tailed it to the nearest town." the old man responded.

"That's good, hey can you take her to her friends?" The old man shook his head no in response.

"That old guy you saved earlier, Rob, he's ex-Fairy Tail. Gave up on magic years ago though, but that girl Erza he said take her to fairy tail! It's her dream to be free and become a mage of Fairy Tail like he used to be."

Naruto looked down at her, "She's got real strength, don't worry I got it covered! Hey if he's Fairy Tail he must have been responsible for the job showing up! That's why it vanished when I got here! Ah man that means there's no pay!"

"He said to report everything back to old Makarov. This should have been a government sanctioned mission so he'll take care getting you your pay."

"Sweet! Well then I'm off. See ya round old timer!" yelled Naruto before he jumped onto the water and took off running at full speed.

"Kids these days, finding the strangest ways to travel eh, Rinko?" said the old man as he watched Naruto and Erza disappear into the distance.

"Woof! Woof!" barked Rinko in response.

Erza awoke with a stir. As her eyes blinked open she found herself in a room laying in a comfortable bed. She saw the blond mage who saved her and her friends chatting with an old man.

"Ah, finally awake young lady? Naruto has told me a lot of impressive things about you Miss Erza." said Makarov.

"Naruto?" she questioned confused.

"That's right, we weren't formally introduced. I'm Naruto Uzumaki and this here is Fairy Tail's Guildmaster, Makarov." greeted Naruto.

She immediately sttod up from her bed and bowed to them, "I'm Erza Scarlett, thank you for saving me and my friends."

"Whoa, no need to be so formal. Besides, you're pretty strong yourself, you probably would have beaten those guys even if I hadn't showed up."

Erza blushed at the praise of her savior.

"I gotta run, need to head back to continue my training and get some answers on this new tattoo. The old man here will show you the ropes here. See ya round!" stated Naruto as he walked out the room. Naruto shut the door behind him before walking out into the main hall. As he headed towards the main door he passed by Mirajane and knocked into an empty barrel before closing the lid on it. He chuckled as he heard her screams and poundings from the inside of the barrel. He quickly reached the main guild entrance and after he's taken a few steps outside a shout stopped him in his tracks.

"Wait, take me with you! We can become strong together! After Gerard I don't wan tto lose another friend." she pleaded as she ran up to him.

"Hey, you're not losing me. Old man Rob said that your dream was to be a Fairy Tail mage, so it wouldn't be fair to you to drag you around with me while I finish my training. This place is awesome so you'll make tons of friends don't worry. I stop in often when I'm on training breaks so you will see me a lot too and eventually I'll be back here for good!" he said trying to reassure her. Naruto paused thinking for a bit before then reaching under his shirt and removing Tsunade's necklace and placing it around Erza's neck. "Someone once gave this to me to show their hope and faith in me. Now you can believe in me too!" he proclaimed before giving her a kiss on the forehead.

Erza stood there stunned with a huge blush on her face, while Naruto walked away waving back at her over his shoulder. Suddenly Mirajane ran outside the doors to stand next to her.

"Yeah, that's right you better run from me you jerk!" screamed Mirajane at Naruto's disappearing form. She then noticed Erza staring off into the distance at him with a dreamy smile on her face while stroking her new necklace.

"What the hell are you looking at!" yelled Mirajane leveling a glare at Erza.

"None of your business!" retorted Erza instinctively leveling Mirajane with a glare of her own. Lighting bolts appeared to shoot out from each girls eyes before they each turned away from one another with a "hmph!".

* * *

_**Thanks for reading, now review or else...Well you REALLY don't want to know the "else" is**_


	2. A Day in the Life

_**A note from the DragonMaster**_- 49 Reviews for the first chapter?!! I guess I did say or else. Perhaps there's something to this threatening for reviews...Any who..Wow! Thanks for all the interest, hopefully my story will live up to its first chapter hype or the likability of its brethren Ninja of the Kais. Just so you folks know the only Naruto Characters appearing in this story will be Naruto and FemKyuubi as per the challenge issued out by the challenger. I'm not following the guidelines to the letter, but it will pretty much fall in line. The Harem will include Kyuubi, Erza, Mirajane, Cana, and Lucy. Possible additions of one or two girls later on, but that will only be because the plot takes me there. I don't plan to throw in a bunch of random girls all wily nilly. This is a action fic more than Naruto gets with as many girls as he can story. Also I'm not giving Kyuubi another name, if I did somewhere along the line in my writing I'll forget that the character was originally the Kyuubi so bear with me. Just to note this chapter will jump off from the Fairy Tail manga start point. Any relevant events that occur between now and the last chapter will be revisited through flash backs or Interlude chapters, so don't worry I'm not skipping through everything it will be revisited at the another flow point of the story. I'm rambling you didn't come here to read me talk about the story but read the damn story so on with the show...

**Disclaimer:** Let's just say there's a lot of stuff I pull from in this story, I don't own any of it.

* * *

**A Day in the Life  
**

_Eight years later..._

The council of magic or in the words of Makarov, "A group of both the senile arrogant old farts and incompetent young fools who have nothing better to do than sit around and bitch about how we don't follow their stupid rules." The aforementioned group was currently in session, seated around a large round table in an open room within a large beautiful white palace. The identities of most of the figures was hidden by the shadows of the open room. A black haired women stood to the side of the table while rolling a glass ball back and forth on her arms._  
_

"Urrutia, stop behaving like a child." drawled one of the silhouettes from the opposite side of the table. The black haired woman dropped the ball onto the ground shattering it into several pieces to the further irritation of those seated at the table. She waved her arm and the glass reformed itself into a ball and levitated on top of her head. A smirk adorned her face as she surveyed the rest of the room.

"It's way to boring here, don't you agree Sieglein-sama?" she questioned looking at the person seated to the side of her.

"You're right, I'd almost rather watch paint dry..." stated the blue haired young man dressed in a white jacket and pants with thick black trim sitting next to her. He leaned back in his chair smirking and kicking his feet up onto the table displaying just how bored he was feeling. "I almost wish someone would stroll through that door right now to stir things up...just like last time." Sieglein started snickering after that statement, which set the entire room into chaos.

"Close your trap you foolish boy!" shouted one of the male council members. He was an older fellow sporting a ponytail with a white suit and a green cape. "I have no idea how runts like you ever became council members!" he declared.

Sieglein waved off the old man's comments dismissively, "Maybe because we have something you lack in your old age, perhaps...high magical power?" _'Senile old fool needs to retire...'_

A large figure at the center of the table stood commanding everyone's attention, "Silence the both of you imbeciles!" The shadows covered his body in such away that his appearance continued to remained hidden. "The council has bigger issues to deal with than your petty squabbles. What are we going to do about Fairy Tail! Those fools have been a thorn in our side for far too long." The council nodded and murmured in agreement with his statement.

"You mean like that fool Makarov sending _him _as a the representative to our last session with the major guilds. Not mention that insane woman he brought with him, a complete and utter disaster..." uttered the old man._  
_

At the mention of _him_ a shiver ran down the spine of all the men while the women had hearts in their eyes.

"Perhaps we should invite him to join the council, he and his companion would make a _fine_ addition..." began Urrutia.

"Yes, that guy certainly keeps things interesting." added Sieglein with a small chuckle.

"Are you insane! You want to give him that kind of power! I fear the day Makarov loses the rest of his sense and turns the entire guild over to him. It will be a nightmare!" ranted the old man.

---

In the shopping district of Harujoin town the door to a small dowtown bookstore opened and a blond hooded figure emerged. He sneezed before rounding the corner into an empty alley. A few seconds later a silver haired man with an eye patch emerged taking a look around before whipping out an orange book and slipping into the crowds unnoticed. A few seconds later the store sign in the window shifted from closed to open and the same orange book was placed in the main window display. Suddenly a manhole cover in the middle of the street popped open and a hoard of men emerged holding advertisements for the orange book in their hands. They stampeded across the street and stormed the store only for half the crowd to be turned away in despair.

---

Various people on their morning commutes hustled in and out of trains at the Harujoin station. A young boy with rose colored hair slouched against the wall of an incoming train struggling to hold down his last meal. His companion, a blue cat with a green bow tie attempted to soothe his comrades motion sickness to no avail.

"Excuse me lad, are you alright?" asked a concerned conductor that walked into their area of the train car.

"Aye, he'll be fine soon. Happens all the time." The cat reassured the man before turning back to his friend who now hung his head out the window on the edge losing the contents of his stomach. He mouth began to bulge when suddenly the train came to a halt in the station. He leaned his head back inside the train before scrambling out the open doors, the cat following behind. The boy knelt down and kissed the ground.

"Solid land! I missed you! Never riding the train again!" he exclaimed while kissing the ground repeatedly.

"Our info says that salamander should be in this town." stated the cat happily while looking around before turning back to the boy. "Come on let's go!"

"That's right!" The boy jumped up as if he wasn't nearly crippled by motion sickness minutes ago. "Igneel here we come!" he declared while marching into town with his companion.

---

Lucy now questioned her decision to stop in this town. After finding that there was only one magic store, she figured she might as well stop by to make the trip worth her while. It was proving to be a complete and utter waster of time. The items in the shop so far proved to be completely useless or she already possessed them. The old shopkeeper just tried to sell her some weak coloring magic she'd known for years.

"The only magic store in town and this is all you have?" exclaimed the blond mage in exasperation.

"Please, less than 10% of the townspeople here use magic. We only have products for traveling mages. Continue having a look around I'm sure you'll find something you like!" the old man pleaded.

"Fine, what I'm really looking for is keys of the gates. Strong one's!" she demanded.

"Ah, very rare items indeed. Here we have the White Doggy!" declared the old man showing her to one of the display cases.

"Eh, it's not strong, but I don't have that one. How much is it?" she asked.

"20000 Jewels!" replied the shopkeeper.

"I wonder how much it is?" she questioned pretending not to hear him.

"I said 20000 Jewels." he supplied again.

She then leaned forward showing of her cleavage and whispered seductively, "I really wonder how much it is..."

Before she could continue a silver haired man with gravity defying hair in a black cloak walked out of the back of the shop. He wore a mask covering the his face up to his eyes with his left eye covered by an eye patch. The most noticeable feature was his face being stuck in an orange book as he navigated his way through the shop never looking up.

"Thanks for polishing this up old man." he said while removing a pair of sheathed blades from under the counter.

"No problem my young friend! Your business is always welcome here!" replied the shopkeeper.

"I left the money by the register, so I'll see you next time! And stop giving the pretty girl a hard time!" he said as he walked out the door.

"Who was that?" she asked the shopkeeper staring at the guy as he left.

"A young mage who passes through here from time to time. Usually has some kind of armor or blade he wants polished up for one of his lady friends," the old shopkeeper replied. She turned back towards the shopkeeper to see him on the other side of the shop counting through a large pile of money with dollar signs in his eyes.

"Yeah, so how much for the..." she began, ignoring the weirdness of the old man.

"Oh no worries! He took care of it for you! Bye-Bye Now! See you next time!" he replied never looking up from counting the money in his hands. Lucy pumped her fist in the air at the success of her sex appeal even if it wasn't on the intended target.

"Okay, that was rather nice of him. Perhaps I should return the favor..." she said as she picked up the key and hurried out the door after him.

--

"Where did he go? He couldn't have gotten too far..." Lucy scanned the crowds as she walked through the center of town. A crowd of women gathering up ahead caught her attention.

"What's going on?" she wondered aloud as she moved towards the crowd.

"It's Salamander-sama!" yelled a shrieking brunette with hearts in her eyes as she ran past Lucy.

"I can't believe such a famous mage is actually here!" screamed the redhead running next to her.

"Salamander!!? The mage who controls fire that can't be bought in stores...? Oh he looks popular! Maybe I should see if he looks cool..." Lucy moved towards the crowd to get a better look at the cause of the commotion. She paid no attention to the pink haired boy and his cat that were just chucked from the center of the crowd. A white haired man with his hair pushed up to the right stood at the center of attention. The girls and women all drooled over him with hearts in their eyes as he waved and blew kisses at them. The more Lucy watched of the him the more she felt herself become swept up in the frenzy.

_'I can't seem to control myself. Why is my heart beating like this...'_ She couldn't take her eyes off of him now.

"Ladies! Your praise flatters me. Perhaps I should reward you with a little display! Now I'll need a volunteer..." the girls all jumped up and down begging to be picked, but he waved them off. "No, I couldn't allow you lovely young ladies to be hurt. I'll need a big strong gentleman to assist...How about you!" He pointed to a silver haired man walking behind the crowd reading a book. However, the guy didn't even look up to acknowledge him. Lucy recognized him as the guy from the magic shop, but whatever was effecting her pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind.

"Sorry, I'm just passing through rather busy." The guy waved him off as he continued to walk away.

"No, I insist. Come you don't want to disappoint these fine ladies!" replied Salamander.

"Sorry, but I really have somewhere to be!" The silver haired man attempted to hasten his exit only for Salamander to use a tendril of fire to grab the mans arm and attempt to pull him back towards himself. However, the attempt failed as it triggered a cloud of smoke that surrounded the silver haired man. When this occurred the spell affecting Lucy lost its hold over her. As the smoke cleared it revealed a young blond haired man with whisker marks on his cheeks decked out in a red sleeveless shirt and black loose fighting pants with black sandals. His arms were covered in various colored tattoos and he wore a dark red scaly headband. His face indicated one thing, rage. Sweat poured down Salamander's face as he had not intended to use an actual mage for his display, especially a strong looking one who appeared to be angered.

"NARUTO-SAMA!!! EVERYONE IT'S NARUTO-SAMA!! HE'S TIED FOR THE TOP RANKED MAGE YOU'D WANT HAVE AS YOUR BOYFRIEND!!!" yelled one of the girls as the crowd turned their attention to the blond.

"DAMN YOU FAKE SALAMANDER!" yelled Naruto as the horde of girls mobbed him. A puff of smoke enveloped the mob causing the women to halt and start coughing. When the smoke cleared the girls all looked around with confused expressions.

"Where did he go?" they wondered aloud. Salamander decided to use this to his advantage.

"Don't worry ladies, that was one of my close associates. He's a bit shy, but you will be able to meet him later! We're having a party later on our ship tonight and you're all invited! Now I have some errands to run at the docks, see you all later!" he declared while using his flame magic to propel him away towards the docks. Lucy frowned as he flew away, finally recognizing the spell he was using as an illegal charm spell.

_'What a fake! I should really thank that guy for helping me out again. Now all I have to do is find him...'_ she thought as she started searching again.

--

"Phew, that was close." Naruto peaked around the corner of a building watching as the guy flew off. He then turned to see a pink haired guy with a scaly scarf and a blue cat staring at the crowd, "Oi! Natsu! Happy! What the hell are you doing here!"

"Naruto! The best mage I know! Let me borrow some money!" exclaimed a grinning Nastu while holding his hand out.

"Aye!!!" added Happy holding his hand out as well.

"Why is that every time I run into you, you're always broke?" grumbled Naruto as he pulled out some cash. A few years ago he would have laughed at him, but ever since he made certain commitments not helping out Natsu would be quite _troublesome_.

"Lisanna, holds onto the money so Natsu doesn't spend it on silly things." replied Happy.

"Hah! I get to keep most of my money! I told you if you bought her gifts, she'd let you keep more money." retorted Naruto.

"He did, but he kept buying her silly gifts. Therefore he now has an allowance." stated Happy as Natsu pouted at having an allowance.

"I bet her sister gave her that idea..." grumbled Naruto remembering when he was almost limited to an allowance, "What the hell are you guys doing out here anyway?"

"We heard someone say something about Salamander, I thought they were talking about Igneel." answered Natsu.

"Aye, but it just turned out to be that fake salamander guy." added Happy.

"Yeah, that guy was nothing but a fraud." a female voice chimed in from behind them. Naruto prepared to flee as the trio turned around to see Lucy standing there with a smile. Naruto relaxed as he recognized her.

"You're the girl from the bookstore, but I'm not..."

She cut him off, "Yeah thanks for the gift and thanks for the help back there in the crowd."

"Ah, you saw me transform." he surmised.

"Naruto always uses his tricky magics to hide from girls." stated Natsu in a sage like manner before being smacked in the back of the head by Naruto.

"Hey! Don't make it sound like I'm scared of women or something! That's only when I don't have one of them with me!" ranted Naruto.

Lucy giggled at their interaction, "You guys are funny, how about I buy you and your friends lunch as thanks."

"Free Food? Awesome! Naruto your new girlfriend rocks!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Aye!" added an equally excited Happy.

Lucy blushed while a vein throbbed on Naruto's forehead, "Oi! I just met her!"

"That's what you said last time!" cheered Natsu as he scampered up the street towards the nearest restaurant with Happy in toe.

"Eh, don't mind him. Natsu says a lot of useless things. Come on, let's hurry before he eats all the food." he replied grabbing her hand and pulling her along with him towards the restaurant.

"Y-yeah sure!" stammered out a blushing Lucy as he pulled her along.

---

Lucy stared upon the trio in awe as they basically inhaled all the food in front of then. She was now glad that Naruto insisted on paying for the meal, these guys would eat up all her hard earned cash. Natsu continuously reached out grabbing everything in sight to stuff his face, while Naruto gulped down bowl after bowl of ramen. She noticed that while Natsu seemed to be haphazard in his grabbing, he never touched a single bowl of the ramen. Naruto suddenly let loose a large belch.

"Ahh! Not the best ramen I've ever had, but certainly not the worst." He patted his belly while taking a sip of his drink.

"So Naruto, Natsu and Happy right?" Lucy asked trying to stir up some conversation.

"Aye." answered Happy as he swallowed a fish in one bite.

"You guys know each other?" she questioned.

"Yeah we go way back." replied Naruto.

"Aye, people often confuse them for being brothers." added Happy. Both Naruto and Nastu snorted at the ridiculousness of that statement.

"Yeah I could see that, so are you two partners or something?" she inquired.

"No way! I only work with cute girls, not idiots!" excalimed Naruto banging his fist on the table.

Nastu looked up from his food and shook the bread roll in his hand at Naruto, "GWARRH BWULEE GWA WAAGAA!"

"Yeah, but the girls were with us then so that doesn't count!" replied Naruto.

Thoughts of "working" with Naruto suddenly flooded Lucy's mind causing her to blush, but she shook her head furiously to clear out those thoughts.

Naruto suddenly stood up, "Shit, I've got to meet up with someone. Nice meeting you Lucy! And Happy keep Natsu out of trouble!"

"Aye Sir!" replied Happy saluting his retreating form.

"GWLU LUU BWASTA!" Natsu shook his fist at the fleeing Naruto his face still stuffed with food.

"Wait he said you worked together before, so does that mean you're a mage too?" questioned Lucy.

"Aye, we're all apart of the same guild." responded Happy.

"I should have figured." Lucy let out a depressed sigh, _'Of course they would be in a guild...what does that say about me?'_

"Well, thanks for the company and enjoy the meal!" Lucy stood up and walked out waving back to them over her shoulder.

---

Lucy sat on a park bench as the sun set, flipping through Weekly Sorcerer Magazine. "Fairy Tail causing trouble again? They destroyed the Devon Thief family, but also destroyed Seven Houses belonging to towns people and a church?...saved the South Port's fleet of cargo ships from the BuckHead Pirates, but sunk several of the ships in the process? HA! HA! HA! That's too much!" she rolled around along the park bench in laughter. "Hmm? The drawing cards of Fairy Tail? It's Mirajane and Naruto!!" The centerfold contained a picture of Mirajane posing in a bikini with Naruto embracing her in a speedo. "Wow!" Lucy uttered while drooling over the picture, "I wonder if I could join Fairy Tail, they are simply the best!"

"I see, you want to join fairy tail," a voice rang out. Lucy jumped back in shock turning behind her to see who was there.

"Salamander?!!" she stammered out.

"What good fortune! I finally found you, I've been looking all over for you. I really wanted to invite a beautiful lady like yourself onto our ship." he declared.

She stood up from the bench looking down at him in disgust. "Hmph! Your weak charm won't work on me anymore. That's your weak point, once someone knows the charm is there it won't work anymore."

"I knew it! You are also a talented young mage. I must have you come to the party!" he proclaimed.

"No way I'm going to such a dirty guy's party." she responded.

"Me? Dirty?" he questioned.

Lucy's face formed a sour expression, "I'm talking about that charm, you must be desperate for popularity."

Salamander tried to play it off like it was irrelevant, "That's only for show, so I can be a celebrity during the party."

Lucy shook her head and walked away, "You're an idiot and a loser. You'll never be a popular mage."

"Wait! You wanted to join Fairy tail right?" he pleaded chasing after her. Lucy halted in her tracks and turned back to face him. "You've heard of Salamander from Fairy Tail?"

"Yes I have!!! You're a mage from Fairy Tail!?" she demanded.

"Indeed. If you would like I can talk to the master for you about joining." he replied.

Lucy suddenly leaned up against him acting like a fan girl, "It will be a wonderful party won't it!"

"You're easy to understand, huh?" he stated scratching his head.

"Can I really join Fairy Tail?" Lucy asked with big pleading eyes.

"Yes of course! Just please don't tell anyone about the charm." he replied.

"Okay!" cheered Lucy in excitement.

"I will see you at the party tonight!" he said before walking away.

"Roger, Sir!" she saluted him.

"Alright! I can join fairy tail!" Lucy jumped and shouted in excitement. Then she started giggling, "I just have to be friendly with that moron until I join."

---

Naruto sat on a park bench outside of a Hair Salon on the other side of town. He tapped his foot impatiently waiting for someone to come outside.

"Finally." groaned Naruto as a young woman opened the door and stepped out. She had crimson hair done in a short spiky ponytail with green eyes. She wore a black miniskirt over dark blue tight bicycle shorts that showed of her long legs and shapely behind. Her tight red and white short sleeved top accentuated her large breasts. She stretched her arms up into air and yawned before taking a look at Naruto. She gave him a look that reminded him of the look she gave him when they truly met for the first time.

--_-Stepping into the WayBack Machine_---

Naruto had just returned from his mission at paradise tower. He stormed up to his trainer demanding some answers on the latest development with his magical powers.

"Yo Gramps!" yelled Naruto gaining the Dragon King's attention.

"I should have never told you my real age." groaned Bahamut while smacking his face with a claw. "Brat! How many times do I have to tell you! Show some respect! I am the Dragon King who could squash you like a bug!" demanded the ancient winged reptile.

"Fine, fine. King Gramps it is. Check this out, I awakened the fire armor, but then this appeared." He held out his left arm displaying the Fox-head tattoo that formed beneath the others. "What does it mean?" the blond asked.

"You've finally awakened the first armor that's good news. As for the new tattoo it seems the fox has finally reached out to you, reforging the connection between your powers." murmured Bahamut.

This confused Naruto, "What do you mean? I thought you said we were cut off from one another."

"You were, but your magic as changed since then. Before awakening the armor there must have been no way for the fox to connect with your magic. The dragon equip magic must be more conducive to its own. You will have to meet with it to find out what is truly going on." replied Bahamut.

"Ah man! I really don't want to return to that sewer. Nor deal with that bastard of a fox again..." grumbled Naruto as he settled into a meditative stance.

"Just so you know, this may not be the same "bastard fox" you are used to dealing with. Before you arrived here the fox existed as a construct of purely Yang energies. Your arrival in this realm balanced out that out when converting into magical energy. You could be getting a blank slate here or perhaps the original spirit of the fox prior to its sealing." advised Bahamut.

"Great! So either the same evil bastard, a clueless idiot, or an arrogant punk." muttered Naruto.

"You of all people complaining about arrogant punks." grumbled Bahamut under his breath.

The young blond closed his eyes and searched within himself. Soon he found himself drawn in by the familiar feeling of being sucked into his mind scape. When his eyes opened he was stunned to find himself submerged in water. He gasped before covering his mouth and swimming upwards towards the surface for air. After breaching the surface he came to his knees on top of the water.

"What gives!" he gasped between his coughs and splutters. "Nearly drowned in the sewer of my own mind scape!" He looks up at this point to finally realize that he is not in a sewer, but kneeling on top of a sea of water about about a half mile away from the shore. He couldn't see anything behind him but water so he headed towards land.

"Where did this come from?" he scratched his head as he walked towards the shore. As he approached he could make out the figure of a girl going through various katas on the edge of the water. She looked to be about his age with long crimson hair and she wore a tight light blue fighting outfit. For a moment Naruto completely forgot where he was as he drooled at the girl. He quickly shook his head clearing himself of those thoughts.

"Who are you?" he demanded. She paused in her movements and before turning and giving him a look that eerily reminded him of that creepy examiner lady, Anko, from a few years ago except this time it wasn't scaring the shit of out him. It generated a completely different feeling that originated from his pants._ 'Looks like ero-sennin succeeded in corrupting me after all...'_

"What do ya think? Not bad for a bastard fox, eh?" she stated while smirking at him.

Naruto's jaw dropped, "B-b-but yo-you..."

She now leveled him with a glare, "What no one that powerful can be female?"

He waived his hands in front of his face in placating matter, "No, it's just that..."

"What?!" she demanded.

"You're like the hottest girl I've ever seen! I was expecting a humongous red fox! I supposed to demand you lend my your power as rent and your supposed to grumble about stupid apes you could crush with your paw! This is insane!" he ranted.

"Well, I could transform into one for you, but I would be purely transformation. I'm still not able to access all of my power." she commented.

His eyebrow raised at this, "Why's that?"

"The principal purpose of the seal still remained even though it is gone now. It was designed for you to be able to wield my power or no one at all, including me." she replied.

"Well, your power simply didn't vanish. Where did it go?" he asked.

"Thanks to you awakening your dragon requip magic, I was able to convert my power into an armor for you to requip. That is where the tattoo came from, there's only one catch." she responded.

"What's that?" he asked figuring out where this was going.

She laid her cards on the table, "I have to become the armor, and in order for that to possible I must be free."

Naruto shook his head, "Come on now, I'm no fool. I let you free what's my guarantee you won't run off leaving me high and dry? Our history isn't exactly one that makes me want to trust you. I also know that even now you still retain a great deal of power."

"I wasn't trying to hide that fact from you. The truth is that I owe you. You know that the reason I ended up getting sealed in the first place, was due to me being under the control of Madara and his sharingan. After the sealing I wasn't really me, it's like I was a sleep for all those years inside the seal since I was split in half. I can remember what happened to you and our interactions within the seal, but I wasn't truly there in control. Whatever transformation occurred on our arrival, restored me. I know that if you had not been born that day, then maybe your father would have killed me out right instead of sealing half of me away into you. The truth about us Bijuu is that we are not creatures of mass destruction, we tended to mind our own business until power hungry humans came along trying to wield us like weapons. You've already freed me from that curse and this is an opportunity I want to make the most of if you would let me. Instead of working against one another like you have been accustomed to in the past, perhaps we could be partners?"

"Partners eh?" Naruto questioned while tapping his chin. She looked at him expectantly waiting for his decision. After he a few minutes he finally responded.

"All right I'm in."

His quick resolution shocker her, "That's it?"

"What you were expecting a month long deliberation or something? It's not that complicated, if you're being completely honest this will be awesome and if not I have King Gramps kill you."

"Looks like I have rubbed of on you." she replied with a devious smile.

"Whatever, how do we do this?" he asked.

"I'll take care of it, you just stand there. I should let you know, as a benefit of me doing this the rest of your armors will be forcibly awakened." said Kyuubi.

"Heh, you're not so bad after all. If you had told me that instead of your little speech I would have agreed regardless of the consequences. So how are you going to do this?"

"Like this!" She suddenly launched forward and smashed her lips into his. Naruto was stunned momentarily before everything vanished in a white flash of light.

--_-Stepping in the Way-forward Machine_---

"Where have you been all day?" she asked him.

"Sure Kyuu-chan, you drag us here on some wild goose chase, ditch me for this shop and now your concerned for where I've been." pouted Naruto. She walked over and sat down next to him pulling his head into her lap. She massaged the whisker marks on his cheeks and Naruto sighed in pleasure. If you told a ninja of Konoha that the Kyuubi no Kitsune could make Naruto Uzumaki do anything she wanted, he would probably sprint back to his village in fear screaming "God help us all!". Tell the same thing to Fairy Tail mage he would probably sigh with a perverted grin and say, "If I got to hit that I would do whatever she wanted too. Dammit it's not fair! He's got three more just like her. I need a beer!"

"You weren't complaining last night, when I convinced you to _come_." she whispered to him. Naruto blushed and giggled at the memory of their activities from last night. _'Almost too easy!'_ she thought with a smile.

"I had to stop by the magical shop to pick up something. Then I ran into Natsu, Happy and Lucy and we had lunch." he answered lost in her ministrations. Her eyebrow raised at the mention of Lucy.

"And just who is this Lucy?" she inquired.

"The really sexy blond girl I met at the magic shop." he replied not paying attention to his answers.

"Really?" she stated looking down at him with a smirk. He suddenly realizes what he just said and attempts to defend himself.

"Don't give me that look! Because you just had spend the day at that hair salon and spa, I almost got mobbed by a hoard of fan girls!" he declared.

"A man with five girlfriends whose afraid of large groups of women?" Kyuubi chuckled at him.

"Hey it's only four! Besides you're the ones who got together after jumping me on separate occasions and decided that you would all be me girlfriends or else I die!" he retorted.

She sighed, "Well we knew you wouldn't choose trying to be noble and not break anyone's heart. So we either share you or no one has you. Besides how does Me, Mirajane, Erza, Cana and Lucy count as four?"

"Oi! I just met her!" he yelled standing up.

"That's what you said about Cana!" she replied in a sing-song voice,"Besides we could use a blond to make things more _interesting_. Come on, I got information that the slave ship is supposed to be somewhere by the docks." She then jumped on his back wrapping her legs around him and whispered into his ear, " After we're done I have two words for you: _Ramen job_." A yellow and red blur was seen speeding across town moments later.

---

Nightfall finally arrived with Natsu and Happy strolling through town after finishing off their big meal.

"Ah! That was a good meal! When Naruto pays for the food it always tastes better." stated Natsu while patting his stomach.

"Aye." agreed Happy. The duo stood from the high point in town looking down upon the docks and the sea. The sun had set and various lights illuminated the town. Happy noticed a ship floating in the middle of the harbor.

"I wonder if that's the ship Salamander is having his party on." commented Happy pointing at it.

"Ooh, I don't feel so good..." Natsu leaned down on the ground wobbly.

"Don't get motion sickness imagining it." commented Happy. Two girls standing a short distance away from them had a conversation that caught their attention.

"Look! Look! That's Salamander's ship! Aww! I wanted to go to the party!" declared the dark haired girl.

"Salamander? Who is that?" asked the blond.

"You don't know? He's a famous mage who's currently in town! I heard he's from the famous guild Fairy Tail!" replied the brunette.

"Fairy Tail?" Natsu turned and looked down at the ship. "Fairy Tail..." the pink haired mage stared at the ship deep in thought.

---

Lucy strolled up and down the top deck of the party ship in her stylish black dress and high heels. She mingled with the various party-goers slightly put off by the fact that there was not a man in sight. _'This place is a total chick-fest! Maybe I should just get out of here...No! This may be my only chance to join Fairy Tail! Where's that Salamander? It's time to do some good schmoozing...'_ She moved down to the main cabin and had a seat hoping that Salamander would show up soon. A few seconds later the door opened and he entered. He strode into the room oozing smugness. She barely kept herself from walking out.

_'This guy is almost too much! Come on keep it together Lucy! You only have to be nice to this moron for a little while longer...'_

He poured out a couple of glasses of wine and handed one to her, "Lucy is it? Such a beautiful name for a beautiful girl."

"Don't you have other girls to attend to?" she replied casually.

"Nonsense! I would much rather have a drink with you. Let's have a toast!" he snapped his finger and little droplets of wine rose into the air from her glass. "Just open your mouth and pearls of wine will come in."

She clenched her fists barely keeping her composure,_ 'You are soooo annoying! Calm down! Just a little more Patience! Then I kick him...That's it!'_

She swatted the droplets of wine away standing and leveling Salamander with a stern glare, "What are you planning? A sleeping drug? I won't fall for such a trick. I want to join Fairy Tail, but I'll never stoop low enough to be with you."

His countenance suddenly changed as a sinister look formed on his face, "Hehehe...How did you figure it out? No matter, such a bad girl you are. It could have gone much more peacefully if you merely drank the wine." He snapped his fingers and several thugs emerged from hiding and grabbed a hold of Lucy.

"What the hell is going on here!" demanded Lucy struggling to break free.

He grabbed her by the chin and lifted her face up towards his, "Welcome to our slave ship, I'll have to ask you to remain silent until we reach Bosco miss."

"Bosco? What do you mean! What about Fairy Tail!" she screamed at him.

He dropped her face and took a step away from her, "I told you this is a slave ship. You are nothing but merchandise. Give up, you belong to us now."

"It's such a great plan thought up by Salamander! Using the charm to lure girls to our ship then they become merchandise. Seems this one isn't falling for it so we'll have to resort to..._other methods._" said one of the ugly thugs before giggling.

_'Dammit! This can't be! How can they do this! Abusing magic this way...is this really Fairy Tail?!' _thought Lucy in anger.

Suddenly Salamander slid his hand up her thigh and removed the keys hiding under her dress.

"A stellar spirit mage? Perhaps we can fetch a fair price for these later." Salamander tossed the keys over his shoulder to the other side of the room, "Now to prepare for your branding..."

"An excellent find Salamander! We haven't had such a pretty one in a long time." commented one of the thugs as Salamander heated his branding iron.

"Looking at your face I can see why." The group turned around to see a pair of purple haired twin girls dressed in light blue kimonos. In a puff of smoke they revealed themselves to be Naruto and Kyuubi. Kyuubi continued, "With faces like that it's obvious why you have to kidnap girls."

"YOU!!!" declared Salamander pointing an accusing finger at Naruto.

"Me?" asked Naruto pointing at himself.

"Yes, you! You almost ruined me earlier today and now you crash my party! How dare you!" roared Salamander.

"Who the fuck is this guy?" questioned Naruto scratching his head. A shiver suddenly ran up his spine, "The only thing I remember happening earlier today was nearly getting caught by a mob of fan girls."

One of the thugs snorted, "This guy is a wuss! He's afraid of women."

"Not women you idiot! Women are lovely creatures that can do wonderful things..." his eyes gained a glazed look before suddenly a paranoid and wild look crossed his face, "Fan girls are rabid howler monkeys with no sense of logic! It doesn't matter if you are a target or an innocent bystander they cause pain! Nothing but horrible horrible pain! Beware..."

Kyuubi cut him off mid rant by rubbing his whiskers, "Don't mind him, he was traumatized by an ugly rabid fan girl during his childhood. She really did look like a pink howler monkey." For some reason the thugs and even Salamander hung their heads in a moment of pity for him.

"Naruto!" declared Lucy in joy. This brought everyone's attention back to the situation at hand.

"Hey Lucy!" greeted Naruto like she wasn't about to branded and molested by the men holding her.

"Idiot..." muttered Kyuubi. She swiped her hand out and suddenly she was holding up Lucy. She looked over the well dressed blond girl with an appraising eye.

"Hmm...I approve! She's a keeper!" cheered Kyuubi rubbing her cheek against her.

"Approved for what?" questioned a now confused Lucy.

"Now's not the time for that!" ranted Naruto.

"Hah! You didn't deny her this time!" gloated Kyuubi.

"Argh!" groaned Naruto grabbing and pulling on his hair.

"Boss these clowns should be no sweat for you!" declared one of the thugs.

Suddenly something crashed through the sealing and landed right on top of Salamander. As Happy floated down through the hole, Naruto, Lucy and Kyuubi watched the groaning form of Natsu in amusement. He scrambled to his feet looming over Salamander.

"Hey, I don't feel so good." Natsu moaned stumbling around like a drunk. The sight of Salamander sprawled out on the floor caught his attention alleviating his sickness for the moment. "Hey, you're the fake Igneel! I heard you said you were from Fairy Tail!" Natsu seemed to stabilize him self before continuing. "But I've never seen you around before!" declared Natsu flashing his Fairy Tail tattoo. He suddenly doubled over in front of Salamander holding his gut while his cheeks bulged.

"Oh, this is not good folks." murmured Naruto.

"If he wasn't such a dickhead, I'd almost feel sorry for him." added Lucy.

Salamander could only look up in horror as Nastu barfed up half his entire meal on top of him. He fainted as the vomit was spewed onto his body.

"Oh, I feel a lot better now." stated Natsu while wiping his face. The thugs stared at him in disbelief while Naruto, Kyuubi and Luicy could barely contain their laughter.

"He's a Vomit Dragon Slayer!" proclaimed Naruto as the trio erupted in laughter. Natsu glared at him and prepared a retort when suddenly the boat rocked and he double over in pain again.

"Happy get Natsu out of here! Head back to the docks." ordered Naruto.

"Aye, Sir!" Happy saluted him as he swooped down to pick up his motion sick friend before flying out the hole they just came in.

"The clones have cleared out all the girls. They are all safely back in town. What should I use for the cleanup?" Naruto asked Kyuubi.

Kyuubi shrugged, "You're on a boat at sea, use Torrent."

"Torrent?" questioned Lucy.

"Oh you haven't seen his magic yet. Get ready it's a real treat!" declared Kyuubi with an excited gleam in her eye.

The air around Naruto suddenly lifted up as he raised his arms in front of himself channeling his magical power, "ARMOR OF THE TORRENT! DAO SHIN!" A blue light engulfed him momentarily causing everyone to shield their eyes. After it died down Naruto was decked out in a blue armor wielding a trident spear. He nodded towards Kyuubi before jumping through the hole Happy just flew out of. Kyuubi followed suit bringing Lucy with her.

Once outside the ship Lucy and Kyuubi saw Naruto standing on the crest of large wave that remained in place looming behind the ship. Lucy held on for dear life as Kyuubi speeded across the water out of harms way. Naruto lifted his trident into the air and massive water dragon twice the size of the ship formed behind him from the wave.

"Watch now, this is a real Fairy Tail mage in action." stated Kyuubi and she and Lucy watched from a safe location. Naruto eyes sharpened as the vomit covered figure of Salamander staggered up to the edge of the ship.

"You've ruined everything! I'll get you for this."

"Slavery, practicing illegal magic, impersonating a Fairy Tail mage, just being an overall bastard...but you know what your biggest crime was? Nearly getting me captured by fan girls! I bet that vomit really reeks, how about a nice bath to wash it all away?!" Naruto swung the trident forward launching his attack.

"No!" yelled Salamander as he attempted to abandon ship, but it was too late.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Missile!" The dragon shot forward slamming into the ship. The water blast carried the ship across the water before smashing into the docks. As the attack finally subsided the trio of Kyuubi, Lucy, and an armored Naruto moved towards the docks to witness the results. The damage did not disappoint. The ship was nothing but splinters and stray planks of wood strewed across the port. The fake salamander laid past out in the middle of it all, his head covered by the remains of a toilet bowl. The thugs were washed up on top of the roofs of various nearby buildings.

" A bit overkill?" stammered Lucy in shock as she stepped away from Kyuubi.

Naruto snorted, "It got the job done, that's all that matters."

"You destroyed half the port!" she yelled in disbelief. Several of the surrounding buildings were knocked down, and a few appeared to be flooded.

Naruto waved off her concerns, "The council has tons of money, they can pay for repairs. This dock needed to be remodeled anyway."

Lucy shook her head before reaching down for her keys only to remember they were gone. "Oh no! I lost my gate keys! That creep took them away back on the ship!" she shouted in despair. A jingling sound rang out from behind her. She turned to see Kyuubi holding up her key ring.

"No worries, I got it covered." stated the smiling redhead.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!..." repeated Lucy over and over again as she bear hugged Kyuubi. Natsu and Happy strolled up to the trio the latter stunned by the amount of damage done by Naruto's attack.

"That was some attack, I've never seem him use that one before..." stated the talking cat.

"This isn't so impressive, my fire dragon missile attack is much more powerful," haughtily stated the fire dragon slayer.

"You just stole the idea for that attack from mine didn't you." deadpanned Naruto no longer sporting his armor.

"Aye, all he did was switch it from water to fire." replied Happy in agreement.

"Mine is still better!" bellowed Natsu shaking his fist at them.

"What the hell is going on here!" yelled out a voice. The group turned to see the military charging through the destroyed port towards them.

"Ah, Fuck! It's 5-0! We gotta bail!" yelled Naruto as Lucy looked back in shock. She suddenly felt herself lifted up and being carried bridal style. She looked up to see another Nartuo with Kyuubi riding on his back following behind Natsu and Happy. Kyuubi winked at her.

"Hey Naruto! Your new girlfriend wants to join Fairy Tail!" declared Kyuubi.

"Hey we just met!" excalimed a blushing Lucy.

"So you wanna join Fairy Tail? Then I guess your stuck with us! Full Speed ahead guys!" exclaimed the Naruto carrying her as he shifted Lucy over his shoulder into a fire man carry and charged forward at blazing speeds.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

"Aye!" declared Happy and Natsu as they tried to keep up.

* * *

_**That's Chapter 2! You know what to do! Click and Review!**_


	3. Welcome to Fairy Tail

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything

* * *

**Welcome to Fairy Tail, now strap on your seat belt, It's a wild ride!  
**

"Wow...It's huge!" uttered Lucy, sporting looks of wonder and amazement across her face as she looked upon the guild from the entrance. After dreaming so long of joining a guild, finally being at the door to her dream guild was almost overwhelming. The large complex possessed the visage of an ancient Arabian palace. She could hardly believe that she would soon be living so close to and working in such a magnificent place.

"Surprisingly it's still standing." murmured Naruto as he opened the door. Kyuubi overheard his snide remark and playfully smacked him on the shoulder.

"No thanks to us!" she giggled.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail!" declared Happy while he followed after Natsu who rudely marched inside like he owned the place, leaving Lucy standing at the entrance still taking in the view. Happy's welcoming brought her back to her senses.

"Wait for me!" pleaded Lucy as she scrambled to keep up.

"As soon as we find the old geezer, we'll get you signed up officially." Naruto told Lucy as she caught up. She nodded absentmindedly as she surveyed the inside of the place. Fairy Tail was as busy as ever with the waitresses moving around quickly to service their customers. Various groups of people sat around eating, drinking, and enjoying each others company. Other mages stood near the job postings trying to find their next request to tackle.

"Hey Mira-chan, three beers over here!" shouted a seated mage in a strange hat.

"Coming right up!" the beautiful silver haired haired goddess replied from across the room as she dropped off drinks at another table. As she made her way across the room to serve him a middle aged man in a flowery shirt called out for her attention.

"Mira-chaaan!" he cried out.

"Yes, Yes what is it?" she replied awaiting his order.

The guy took a long puff of the cigarette in his mouth before removing it and blowing out three hearts of smoke towards her holding his hands over his chest.

"Let's go on a date next time!" he declared batting his eyes at her.

She sighed and shook her head in mild annoyance, _'Always when he's not around...'_

"Dude you're in for it now!" called out one of his companions pointing behind him. He felt a massive assault of killing intent directed on himself, and feared that her boyfriend had caught him in the act.

"Naruto! Buddy! I was just kidding..." He stammered while he turned around to come face to face with someone far worse than Naruto, his irate wife.

"Ahhh! Honey! Please I was just kidding around! You know you're the only one for me!" he pleaded to the portly elderly woman.

"YOU JERK!" she screamed as she landed a slap that sent him flying across the room and into a wall. She proceeded to wave her finger at him in a scolding motion before vanishing in a puff of smoke to reveal Naruto grinning and giving the peace sign. Everyone at the table burst out into laughter.

"Classic!" one of them yelled out.

"Teach that bastard to hit on my woman." grumbled Naruto as he put an arm around Mirajane. She shrugged it off before smacking him in the back of the head with the empty tray in her hand.

"You idiot! Stop beating up my customers!" yelled Mirajane.

"Yeah nice to see you too, why can't you be as nice as when you're working here, all the time." groaned the blond as he rubbed his head.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" she screamed at him. Their potential fight was interrupted by Natsu storming over to them followed by the rest of the returning group.

"WE'RE HOME!" yelled Natsu.

"Home!" chimed Happy while lifting his paw in a greeting fashion.

"Mira, where is she?" asked Natsu.

"Natsu, Happy, and Kyu welcome home. As for Lisanna, her shift starts in a few minute when mine ends." replied Mirajane.

"Good I have time!" he replied shifting his attention to scanning the various members scattered about. The one he was looking for quickly made himself known.

"Oy Natsu! Naruto! You guys overdid it again! I read about the Harujoin incident in the newspaper..." the buck toothed mage was cut off by a kick to the face courtesy of Natsu.

"Bastard! That info you gave me on Salamander was fake!" roared the fire dragon slayer.

"Great with these two back, the store is going to be torn apart...again." moaned Mirajane as the daily brawl started forming.

"You used to be just as involved in tearing up this place before you started working in here." grumbled Naruto under his breath.

"Mira where is the master?" asked Kyuubi.

"He's out and about somewhere, he said something about business. Why?" she replied.

"We've got a new recruit, this is Lucy!" responded Kyuubi, introducing the blond. As Mirajane gave her look over, Kyuubi winked at her causing her to frown and turn her attention to her boyfriend.

"You just had to go and get yourself another one huh?" she demanded with a pointed look.

"Another what?" the ever clueless Naruto questioned. Her reply was a skeptical glance towards Lucy. The blond quickly jumped into action to diffuse the situation.

"You know I don't make those kind of decisions anymore," he wrapped an arm around her from behind before leaning down and kissing the crook of her neck causing her to moan, "And I must say giving up that power was well worth it. Is that the eastern chantel your wearing, makes you smell delicious..."

"You wouldn't figure a guy whose afraid of women could pull of moves like that." deadpanned a voice from behind him. Naruto turned to come face to face with in his opinion, the biggest bastard in the guild.

"Buzz off Loki-teme! I only fear that trash you usually relish in, fan girls: the most vile creatures in existence. It takes the charm of a real women to capture me, unlike some standard less people I know." retorted Naruto.

"I can't believe it! Both guys tied with for the top ranked mage to have as your boyfriend! In the same guild! That I'm about to join!" drooled Lucy.

"I demanded they print a retraction in no way do I want to be associated with a loser like him." they both replied at the same time. The duo growled at each other when Loki made a his move thrusting the girls at his sides in front him towards Naruto.

"These two will expose you for the coward you are!" declared Loki.

"Go Loki-sama!" they cheered. Nartuo instantly vanished from his position and reappeared behind Lucy.

"You fool, you think I came here unprepared! Behold your greatest undoing the sexy stellar spirit mage!" declared Naruto pushing Lucy forward. At the words Stellar spirit mage Loki quickly grabbed his girls and quickly walked away.

"You'll have to do better than that. Let's go ladies." he called over his shoulder.

"You need to work on your sex appeal. That should have worked..." commented Naruto scratching his chin.

"What the hell were you trying do do!" demanded an irate Lucy.

"So you have some spirit in you after all." commented Mirajane, "Naruto has the insane idea that Loki is afraid of stellar spirit mages because he is a stellar spirit."

"If a stellar spirit mage was hot enough I'd be rid of him once and for all! Kyuubi help her with her sex appeal, then we will try again!" ranted Naruto only to slapped in the back of the head by the redhead.

"Stop being a moron! Loki is not a stellar spirit!" excalimed Kyuubi. A shout quickly interrupted their train of thought,

"The dragon bros are back? Nastu! Where are you punk! We're settling our fight from last time!" roared a dark haired guy storming over to them from behind Lucy.

"Gray how long have you been walking around like that?" commented a Brunette seated at the bar as he passed by.

"Ah Shit!" he looked down to find him only in his boxers. He promptly ignored his state of dress in pursuit of his fight as he stormed towards Natsu who dismissed him immediately.

"Come back after your dressed." stated the pink haired teen shooing him away.

"Another one of those undignified guys I can't stand." Stated the girl at the bar before she picked up a barrel of alcohol and drunk from it. Lucy stared at her in disbelief while she chugged down the whole thing before belching. Naruto saddled up beside her with his own barrel.

"That's why you've got me babe. Look at I what I got from the south port!" declared the blond showing off the rare ale he commandeered.

"Someone deserves a reward..." she suddenly smashed her lips into his instigating a passionate kiss. She suddenly broke it off after getting her hands on Naruto's barrel while he was distracted.

"Ah, come to mama..." she whispered while lifted it up to take a sip.

Naruto sighed, "Sometimes I wonder if she loves me as much as booze."

"Most days its a coin flip." snickered Mirajane.

"It shouldn't be considering the alternatives." retorted Naruto pointed his thumb towards the bickering Gray and Naruto. "I swear your sister is some kind of saint to put up with him."

"I guess that makes us Goddesses, huh?" responded Kyuubi caused Mira to laugh.

"Hey!" shouted Naruto.

"What rubbish! Have you no pride as men!" a deep voice called out to Natsu and Gray.

Lucy turned to face the imposing figure of Elfman frowning down upon the squabble that broke out.

"Yapping in the middle of day like little children. Men should fight with fists!" Elfman declared.

"It comes down to fighting after all..." uttered Lucy as she shook her head at the continuing idiocy.

"No one asked you!" roared Gray and Natsu as they launched him across the room.

Naruto looked up at a clock and jumped up with excitement, "Mira your shift is over!"

"Finally through with dealing with so many annoying bastards..." the beginning of her rant was silenced as Naruto grabbed her by the shoulders and starting kissing her. Lucy stared at them stunned as the previously bickering duo entered a passionate make out session oblivious to the world around them.

"Sheesh you think they could wait till they got back home..._and let me join._" stated Kyuubi offhandedly.

Lucy face planted at this statement. "Is anyone here normal?" she moaned.

"Don't be too shocked by all this. It pretty much counts as a typical day around here." stated Kyuubi before a stray flying chair leg smacked her in the head.

"Shouldn't someone stop them?" asked Lucy looking at the grinning kitsune as if she were insane.

"No way! It's much more fun this way!" declared Kyuubi.

Suddenly Naruto paused in his ministrations with Mirajane and stared out into center of the room where the brawl raged on.

"I think I've figured out why Grey is always picking fights with Natsu." declared Naruto.

"Because their fire and Ice mages?" retorted an irritated Mirajane, miffed at his stopping.

"No, Natsu was the first person to do that to him." He said pointed towards Natsu who now stood chuckling while holding up Gray's boxers as the naked teen flew across the room and crashed next to Lucy. As he scrambled to his feet everyone got a good look a little Gray.

"Wow, no wonder he's mad." giggled Kyuubi.

"Don't turn this way!" exclaimed Lucy as she covered her eyes.

"Hey, could you lend me some underwear?" Gray asked Lucy.

"No way!" yelled a pissed off Lucy.

"Men should fight with fists!" roared Elfman from the middle of the brawl. A punch courtesy of Natsu sent him flying again.

"Get out of our way!" roared Natsu. As the intensity of the brawl picked a chair flew out of the center and nailed Kana's barrel spilling the contents.

"That's it! No one ruins the my drink especially when it comes from Naruto!" screamed Kana jumping to her feet and lifting one of her cards over her head as she prepared to enter the fray.

"I've had it!" declared Gray as he powered his ice magic.

"NUOOOOOOH!" roared Elfman as he started to transform.

"What a troublesome bunch..." murmured Loki joining the fight as his ring pulsed with power.

"COME AND GET ME!" proclaimed Natsu, his arms shrouded with flames.

"Magic!" screamed Lucy in shock as the fight escalated to a new level.

"This is getting a little intense..." moaned Kyuubi as she started massaging her left breast.

"Yeah it is...what are you doing?" exclaimed Lucy here eyes nealry popping out of her skull.

"Look at the them." replied Kyuubi.

Naruto and Mira were now on top of a table letting out moans and groans. Naruto's shirt was gone and his hands were inside Mirajane's dress as the make-out session progressed a step further. Between the huge brawl and sex that was about to break out in front her Lucy's brain seemed to overload. Thankfully for her someone quickly restored order. A sharp whistle rang out front he entrance to the guild.

"Are you guys really planning on trashing this place right as my shift starts?" questioned a deceptively sweet voice. The sudden feeling of death looming all over them betrayed the sweet visage of Lisanna smiling at them while pouting. Sensing the possible impending doom, Elfman headed off his sister.

"No way sis! We were just joking around right guys! All in good fun!" he declared.

"Yeah all fun!" everyone chorused as the feeling suddenly went away as she reached behind her and pushed forward a tall cart full of baked goods.

"Good! Look everyone I brought treats!" she replied.

"Awesome!" exclaimed Natsu as he charged forward with Happy and nearly toppled over both Lisanna and the cart. The short white haired girl giggled as Happy glomped her.

"Why don't you bring me treats?" whined Naruto as put his shirt back on and rearranged his clothes.

"You'd prefer those treats, to these?" questioned Mirajane as she adjusted herself in her dress.

"Good point, but perhaps we could combine the two." suggested Naruto. A look of wonder appeared on her face at the idea.

"They aren't all winners, but when actually you do have a good thought it's dead on."declared Kyuubi.

"Yeah I...Hey!" responded Naruto.

"Never mind that, let's go get some good stuff to use before it's all gone!" said Mirajane as grabbed Naruto as rushed towards her sister where Natsu was already stuffing his face full of pastries. Lucy and Kyuubi followed behind them quickly. As she reached the cart, Lucy spotted a particularly scrumptious looking cinnamon roll on the top shelf. She grabbed it quickly before moving over to the side away from everyone and taking a bite.

"Mmmm, this is delicious!" moaned Lucy as she savored the taste.

"Alright who ate the last cinnamon roll!" a booming voice roared. Lucy turned in fear to face a towering dark and demonic figure.

_'He's humongous!'_ thought Lucy.

"Natsu!" yelled Naruto causing the huge figure to step on the pink haired mage and stop his assault on the sweets. He then turned his eyes to Lucy.

"Mu? A new comer?" he asked.

"Y-Y-ye-yes!" stammered Lucy. She looked upon him in shock as he suddenly grunted while shrinking down to a much smaller size and revealing himself to be Makarov.

"I'm master Makarov. Nice to meet you!" He waved at her before jumping up towards to sealing, he hit his head before landing on the rail of the second floor. As he scrambled to his feet he pulled out a thick stack of papers and waved it at them.

"You've done it again fools! Look at these documents I received from the council." he said before pulling them up close to his face and starting to read.

"First is Gray." stated Makarov.

"Huh?" questioned Gray.

"Nice job sweeping out that smuggling organization, but you walked around naked in town afterward. You then ran away after stealing some underwear that was drying." stated Makarov.

"But..wouldn't it be worse if I was naked?" he questioned.

"Then don't be naked in the first place." replied Elfman.

Makarov continued, "Elfman, you had a mission to escort a VIP and assaulted him during the mission!"

Elfman scratched the back of his head, "Well he said, 'Men are all about education' so..."

"So don't be a moron!" excalimed Mirajane smacking him in the back of the head.

Makarov started reading again, "Loki, you flirted with council member elder Reiji's granddaughter. A certain talent agency charged us for damage compensation too."

"She came on to me..." he murmured too low for anyone to hear.

"Kana Alberona, drinking fifteen large barrels of alcohol and charging it to the council." stated Makarov.

"They found out..." she whispered as a bead of sweat dripped down her face.

"Kyuubi and Mirajane, you both put grandsons of council members Koiji and Romura in the hospital for two weeks!" exclaimed Makarov.

"Bastard should keep his hands to himself." they growled simultaneously.

He continued reading, "Natsu, You succeeded in destroying the Devon Thief family, but also destroyed seven other houses belonging to towns people. You leveled a clock tower in Tully village, burned down a church in Freesia, damaged parts of Lupinus castle, and caused the Nazuna Ravine Observatory to collapse and cease operations."

Makarov paused to clear his throat before continuing,"Naruto, You saved the South Port's fleet of cargo ships by wiping out the BuckHead Pirates, but you also destroyed half the cargo in the process. You also cleaned out the Red City Opium Gang while blowing up several buildings in the market district. This on top of inciting half a dozen riots, leveling Harujion's port, and stealing from the council armory and wine cellar."

Naruto and Natsu jumped up and raised the hands in the air in a celebratory fashion. "Take that suckers we're still Number One!" the duo yelled.

Mirajane and Lisanna promptly smacked each of them in the back of the head, "Don't be proud of it!"

"Idiots..." muttered Kyuubi shaking her head.

_'Those two had the most of anyone by far!'_ thought Lucy in shock.

"Guys the council members are angry and bitching at me all the time, but..." suddenly the list in his hands went up in flames, "Fuck 'em!"

"Eh?" uttered a confused Lucy. The Master tossed the flaming list to the side where Natsu jumped up and caught it in his mouth like a dog.

"Listen up, the power to overcome reasoning is born from reasoning. Magic is not a miracle. When the spirit flow within us and the spirit flow in nature connects, they will form an embodiment for the first time. You will need a strong mentality and concentration for that. I mean, pouring all your soul into whatever you do is magic. If you keep worrying about the higher ups cracking down on you your magic won't improve. Do not fear the fools of the council. Do what you think is right! This is the way of Fairy Tail Mages!"

The whole guild broke out into laughter and smiles at his proclamation.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The next couple of hours past by quickly for Lucy as she officially became a member of the guild. She was having dinner with Naruto and Natsu while waiting for Lisanna to come back and give her a member stamp.

"So you were called Salamander in that other town Natsu?" asked Lucy.

"Right!" replied Happy.

She found it a fitting nickname, "Well I guess that description does fit your magic well."

"If Natsu is the Salamander, I want to be the Catmander!" declared Happy.

"What's up with the 'mander thing?" she questioned Naruto confused.

"I know he's more like a Meowth." replied her fellow blond.

"A what?" she asked even more confused.

"Never mind." he shook his head to clear the random thought.

"So are you a water mage Naruto?" Lucy asked.

"Nope. Want to know the real secret behind my magic?" Naruto asked.

Lucy leaned forward eagerly, "Yeah! What is it?"

Naruto leaned forward and whispered into her ear,"It's a...SECRET!"

Lucy pouted at his non response.

"Stop teasing her Naruto." said Lisanna as she approached with a stamp and bowl of ink in her hand.

"You want it here?" asked Lisanna pointing to her hand.

"Yes!" replied Lucy.

"There! Now you are apart of Fairy Tail!" complimented Lisanna as she finished the mark on Lucy's hand.

"Ah! Hey, look you guys! She gave me the mark of Fairy Tail!" as she showed of her mark to Naruto and Natsu. The duo looked up from their meal before returning it to it just as quick.

"Good for you Luigi." deadpanned Natsu before taking a bite out of a flaming chicken leg.

"It's Lucy!" screamed Lucy in outrage.

"That does nothing for your sex appeal." stated Naruto dismissively before slurping down some more ramen.

"Pig!" yelled Lucy.

"You're nuts Naruto!" yelled one of the guys at their table.

"Yeah I'd do anything to have a babe like that on my team!" added another. Finished with his food Nastu stood up and left the table along with Happy.

"Where you guys going?" questioned Naruto.

"To get a job, I need money." replied Natsu.

"You should teach Happy how to do payday." suggested Naruto.

"What?" questioned Natsu.

"Forget that." Naruto shook his head to again clear away that random thought. "You should do some training. Then you wouldn't still be stuck on the little boy board. Have fun on those baby jobs!" teased Naruto as he jumped up to the second floor.

"Bastard! He could just take me along! Whatever I don't need him!" proclaimed Natsu as he started checking out the board.

Happy pointed to one near the top of the board, "Look here's one with a good reward!"

"160000 Jewels for exterminating thieves? Alright!" stated Natsu as he pumped his fist.

"Baby Mission!" Naruto's voice rang out from above.

"Oi! Old man Let me go to the next floor!" demanded Natsu.

"Not happening! Take that mission, see if you can exercise some restraint this time." replied Makarov.

A small black haired child wearing a t-shirt portraying a smiling sun approached the counter where Makarov sat smoking his pipe.

"Is my Daddy back yet?" he asked Makarov.

The old man sighed before responding, "You're annoying Romeo. If you are the son of a mage you should have more faith in your father, be a good boy, and wait for him at home."

Romeo looked up at Makarov on the verge of tears, "He said he'd be back in three days, but it's been a week since then."

"Macau's job is at Mount Hakobe right? That's not to far from here." stated a nearby mage.

"Please look for him! I'm worried about him!" pleaded Romeo.

"No Way! Your dad is a mage! We have no mage here who can't take care of himself! Go home and drink your milk or something!" retorted Makarov.

Romeo clenched his fists as the tears pooled in his eyes before jumping up and punching the master in the face, "Idiot!" He then stomped away rubbing his eyes to hold back from crying.

"It's pretty strict around here isn't it?" questioned Lucy as she observed the scene.

"Master may say that, but he's worried about Macau too." replied Lisanna.

Over by the request board Natsu who had overheard everything, slammed the request in his hand back into the request board making a dent in it before storming away and dragging Happy along with him.

"Hey! Natsu! Don't break the request board!" the guy in front of the board scolded him.

"Eh?" questioned a confused Lucy, puzzled by Natsu's change in demeanor.

"Master, I bet Natsu is going to go do something bad..." stated the guy in front of the board.

"I bet he's going to go help Macau. Dumb kid, doing that will only hurt Macau's pride." Makarov bit down on his pipe before continuing, "No one can decide what he should do leave him alone."

Suddenly Naruto jumped down from the second floor holding two separate missions in his hands.

"Damn straight you should leave him alone. He is a follower of the first rule of the ninja." stated the blond, his cheerful mood turned completely serious.

"First rule of the ninja?" questioned Lucy.

"Those who break the rules are scum..." started Naruto.

"...But those who abandons their comrades are worse than scum." finished Lisanna, _'How many time has that little line saved peoples lives,especially mine that time...'_

"A wise policy indeed." stated the Master.

"Oh before I forget..." he handed Lisanna the paper in his left hand, "Mira and your bro should enjoy that one."

"Your not supposed to take more than one mission off the board. In fact I put a charm on it preventing such a thing." said Makarov.

"I took one and he took one." Naruto replied pointing up to a clone on the second floor who was waving at them.

"Well played..." responded Makarov.

Naruto scribbled down a note before handing it t Lisanna, "Pass this along to Kyuu-chan when she comes back."

"Stop using Lisanna as your secretary!" yelled the returning Mirajane, now decked out in her battle gear.

"Yeah, Yeah..." mumbled Naruto as left to follow after Natsu.

"Hey blond girl! What are you still doing here? Go after the idiots!" roared Mira.

"Bu- B-but..." stammered out a stunned Lucy, not knowing what she did to upset her. Lisanna quickly took control of the situation.

"What nee-chan meant to say was with Naruto and Natsu together, well you heard the list master read earlier. On their own, they are pretty rowdy, together..." Lisanna almost shivered at the thought.

"...I get the picture. But I don't have time yet, I need to find a place to live." replied Lucy.

"There are open spaces at the boys apartment building and few in the girls dorm. Their both right next to our house so you can come visit once you guys get back."

"Mirajane's House! Wow! I can't wait!" exclaimed Lucy as she jumped up and hurried after them.

Mirajane snickered at how easily her sister manipulated the girl, "You're even worse than Kyuubi now."

Lisanna adopted an innocent look,"I'm just kind soul trying to help out."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Ahhh..." sighed Lucy as she looked out the carriage window, "I can't wait to visit Mirajane's house once we return."

Naruto snored in his sleep across from her while Natsu lied down groaning from his motion sickness.

_'Yeah, real danger these two are. Wonder why he's got that heavy coat?'_ though Lucy as she observed the duo. Natsu was still wearing the same clothes, but Naruto now sported a heavy trench coat over his outfit. The carriage soon came to a halt and her fellow passengers suddenly sprung into action in a surprising fashion. When Natsu opened the carriage backdoor Lucy nearly froze to death on the spot after being hit by a blast of the icy cold wind.

"We can't go any further from here." stated the carriage driver.

"Even though we're up in the mountains, it's summertime! It's not normal to have a snowstorm like this!" exclaimed a shivering Lucy.

"It's to be expected." stated Naruto.

"It's too cold!" stammered Lucy with chattering teeth.

"It's cause you're not wearing much." stated Natsu.

"Neither are you!" screamed Lucy in response.

"Yes, but his magic keeps him warm. You're not so lucky, here." Naruto draped his trench coat over her shoulders.

"Thanks, but what about you?" questioned Lucy. Right as she said this, another Naruto appeared to the original before transforming into another coat.

"Gotta love kage bushin!" exclaimed Naruto as he put it on.

"Alright I'm heading back to town now." stated the carriage driver as it turned around and went back.

"Wait! How are we supposed to get back!" shrieked Lucy as she chased after him.

"She's really noisy." stated Natsu.

"Aye." agreed Happy.

Naruto shrugged, "No much more than any other girl."

Natsu nodded in agreement, "This is also true."

"Aye." agreed Happy.

"I heard that!" yelled Lucy.

Naruto stuck his pinky finger in his ear,"They also have bat like hearing."

Natsu nodded again in a sage like manner, "Right again."

"Aye." agreed Happy.

"Useless idiots..." grumbled Lucy as she retrieved one of her gate keys. "O-O-O...Open...The door of the clock. Horologium!" The key sparked with a flash of light as a large clock being was summoned in the snow.

"Whoa! It's a clock!" exclaimed Natsu.

"Woowhoo! Magic!" deadpanned Naruto.

Lucy climbed inside as the clock closed, protecting her from the cold.

" 'I'll stay here,' she says." stated the clock.

"Why did you come here?" questioned Natsu.

" 'I was promised a chance to visit Mirajane's house and help finding an apartment.' she says." replied the clock.

Naruto shrugged, "Whatever." The trio turned to walk away only to be stopped by the Clock.

" 'Wait!' she says, 'What job did Macau-san come here for?' " said the Clock.

Naruto shook his head, "You didn't know and still came?"

"He came to subdue the brutal monster, "Balkan", and his partner the soul eater, Gouki." supplied Natsu.

A wave of panic flashed through Lucy. " 'I want to go home!' she says." stated the clock as Naruto, Natsu and Happy turned to walk away.

"Bye-bye!" replied Naruto waving over his shoulder.

"Yes, go ahead, says I." responded Natsu.

"Aye." agreed Happy.

After traveling deeper into the snowstorm the group halted. Natsu scrambled around the area shouting into the howling winds of the storm.

"Macau! Where are you! WHERE YOU DONE IN BY THE BEASTS!" shouted Natsu.

Naruto snorted, "If he was done in, he wouldn't be able to respond."

The sound of rocks falling from higher up the mountain caught their attention and the trio looked up. A huge shadow loomed overhead, that quickly revealed itself to be a giant ape beast leaping down at them. The creature attack Natsu with it's front paws, only for the dragon slayer to dodge the attack swiftly.

"It's Balkan!" exclaimed Happy.

"So where's his uglier half?" questioned Naruto.

Balkan suddenly leaped away from Natsu towards the clock containing Lucy taht had followed them.

"Oh! A Human Woman!" exclaimed Balkan as it licked the clock. "UHOHOOOH!" roared Balkan as he grabbed the entire clock creature and fled with Lucy still inside.

"Ooh." murmured Natsu in disbelief. His flame aura then sprung up around him as he cracked his knuckles, "So he can talk, huh?"

"We can make him tell us where Macau is!" declared Happy.

"And then we destroy him! Evil Howler Monkey!" roared Naruto as he pointed his shaking finger towards the retreating beast with a deranged look on his face.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"HOW DID IT BECOME LIKE THIS!" screamed Lucy from within the clock. "AND WHY IS THIS MONKEY SO HYPER!"

After picking her up Balkan traveled back up the mountain before stopping in an enclosed area and slamming the clock down in the center. The beast started dancing around it in a circle.

"UHO HO HO! UHO HO HO!" chanted the monkey as he continued to dance around the clock.

"I wonder if this where the monkey lives. And what happened to Natsu and Naruto?" pondered Lucy as she placed her face against the glass of the clock. Balkan suddenly placed his face against the other side startling her.

"Woman!" Balkan murmured in a husky voice.

Suddenly there was a strange sound before the clock vanished leaving Lucy at the mercy of Balkan.

"Times up. Farwell!" said the clock.

"Hold on! Extension! I need an extension!" pleaded Lucy. She shivered in fear as the monkey leaned over her and stuck his face right in front of hers.

"Yeah! I found you!" rang out Natsu's voice as he entered the area.

"Natsu! I'm saved!" cheered Lucy.

"Where is Macau! Woah!" roared Natsu as he slipped on the icy ground and tumbled in a rock column in front of Lucy.

Lucy sighed at his ridiculousness, "I guess beggars can't be choosers."

"Hey Monkey! Where is Macau?" demanded Natsu.

"Uho?" replied the Monkey.

"You understand what I'm saying. I'm talking about a man, a human man." stated Natsu.

"A man?" replied the monkey scratching his head.

"That's right. Where did you hide him?" demanded Natsu again.

"UWAH! You think he "hid" Macau-san?" uttered a shocked Lucy. _'Wait! Is Macau-san still even alive?'_

The monkey suddenly grinned and beckoned Nastu over to him.

"Where.." started Natsu only to be picked up and thrown off the side of the mountain.

"Natsu!" shrieked Lucy.

"He better survive that you stupid monkey." a mysterious voice called out from the shadows, "You can take pleasure in that disgusting woman all you want after I've eaten my fill. The tasty souls of her companions should do fine. It's been a while since I've seen souls with such potency!"

"Bout time you showed your face Gouki. Figures that without your previous organization's protection you two would be hiding up in the mountains to avoid hunters." remarked Naruto as he revealed himself and leaped down from the ceiling. The blond faced down Gouki who leaned against the far wall.

"Naruto! You've got to help Natsu!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Don't worry, Happy has it covered." replied Naruto.

"You Fairy Tail punks are all the same, weaklings. The idiot Macau was worse than you three." mocked Gouki.

"Where's Macau!" demanded Naruto.

"Couldn't eat trash like that, so I put him to work. He's around here somewhere, you'll have to find him yourself." retorted a smirking Gouki.

"I have no problem beating it out of you...ARMOR OF HARD ROCK! DAO GI!" After the bright flash of orange light died down revealing Naruto in his hard-rock armor, the blond warrior stabbed his ningata into the ground before leaping forward and launching a punch that Gouki leaned to the left to dodge. Naruto's fist sunk into the side of the Mountain shaking the entire area. The attack had served Naruto's main purpose, getting the upcoming messy fight away from his comrades.

"Be careful you fool! If you cause an avalanche you'll bury us all!" roared Gouki.

"I'll ask you one more time, where is Macau!" demanded Naruto, ignoring Gouki's concerns.

"Fool..." Gouki suddenly unleashed his full power as he transformed into a humongous beast with horns protruding from his forehead, darkened skin, and enlarged fangs on his bottom teeth. He charged Naruto trying to land a hay-maker with his left, only for his fist to be caught. He swung around with his right only for Naruto catch that one as well. The two entered a standoff grasping each others hands trying to push each other backwards with neither budging an inch.

"Do you really thank you can over power me?" roared Gouki.

_'Easily, but I have to hold back until you give up Macau's whereabouts...'_ thought Naruto as he slowly started pushing the beast backwards.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The rumbling from Naruto's initial attack on Gouki nearly knocked Lucy of her feat, but the tough girl maintained her balance before staring down her kidnapper.

"Well, then that leaves me to crush this perverted monkey!" Lucy whipped out another key to summon a new stellar spirit, "Open...A door to the golden bull palace..TAURUS!"

"MOOOO!" roared the summoned beast as he emerged, "Lucy-san! Your boobs are moo-ore amazing than ever!"

Lucy face palmed, "I forgot...that he's a pervert as well."

"UHO! Back away from my woman!" declared Balkan.

"My woman?" questioned the bull, "That is a most unforgivable remark."

"Alright Go Taurus!" cheered Lucy.

"You should have said 'my boobs' instead of 'my woman'." continued Tauras.

"That's not right!" screamed Lucy as she covered her chest.

_'I used up a lot of magic on holorogium earlier. I don't know how much magic power I've got left for Taurus, but I just need to by some time until Natsu returns!'_ thought Lucy as she clenched her fist. "Taurus! Go!"

"I'M MOO-ORE THAN READY!" roared the axe wielding bull as he charged the monkey.

"UHOO!" roared Balkan as he moved to meet the charge head on.

Suddenly Natsu's voice rang out, "You think you can get rid of me that easily?"

The pink haired Dragon Slayer emerged from where Balkan chucked him through the side of the wall and off the mountain. He suddenly charged in delivering powerful kicks to both Balkan and Taurus.

"Geez! How many monsters are there!" roared Natsu.

"No Moo-ore for me!" whimpered Taurus as he hit the ground.

"You weakling!" Lucy screamed and the bull before turning to Natsu, "And you how the hell did you get back here so easily!"

"Happy!" replied Natsu pointed behind her.

"You're welcome!" said Happy as he hovered overhead.

"Oh, I forgot you had wings. Wait a minute, you can't deal with transportation, but you can deal with Happy?" questioned a puzzled Lucy.

Natsu looked at her like she'd grown a second head, "What are you talking about? Happy isn't a vehicle, he's a "nakama". You're weird."

"Right, I'm sorry." replied a sweat dropping Lucy, _'He of people is calling me weird?'_

"Listen up. All of fairy tail's members are nakama. From that old fart, Lisanna, Erza, Mira..."

"Natsu! He's coming!" warned Lucy as the monkey charged Natsu. He continued speaking as if unaware.

"Then the annoying Gray and Elfman..." he went on.

"I get it Natsu! Watch your back!" warned Lucy as the monkey got closer.

"To Happy, Naruto, and Lucy. We are all nakama." Natsu back flipped and kicked the charging Monkey in the chin with a flame covered foot.

"I AM TAKING MACAU HOME!" roared Natsu as Balkan slammed into the icy ground face first.

"Tell me where Macau is or I will burn you black like charcoal!" threatened Natsu. The enraged Monkey scrambled to its feet with its face still smoking from the last attack. It reached up and starting pulling down icicles from the ceiling and chucking them at Natsu rapidly. The slayer stood their and laughed as the assault did no damage, the ice melting on contact with his body.

"That won't work on fire!" laughed Natsu. Balkan then noticed Taurus' spear stuck and the ground and picked it up. The monkey charged Natsu swinging the axe wildly forcing the slayer into evasive maneuvers, as he barely dodged some of the attacks. Natsu caught one of the vicious swings in front of his face and entered a battle of strength with the monkey pushing down with all its strength and Natsu holding the axe at bay. Lucy attempted to wake up her summoned spirit in order for him to dispel and the axe to vanish, but a sizzling sound interrupted her attempts to awake the bull. Where Natsu gripped the axe his flame magic heated it so hot, the metal on the blade melted. Natsu caught a glob of the hot metal in his mouth before chewing on it and spitting it out. The projectile nailed Balkan in the forehead startling the beast.

"Here I come..." declared Natsu bringing back his flame covered right hand before launching forward with devastating blow, **"Salamander's Iron Fist!"**

Lucy and Happy cheered as the attack launched the beast into the wall, knocking him out cold with his body still smoking.

"He's Stuck!" exclaimed Happy.

Lucy let out a sigh, "Wait a minute, don't we still need him to find out where Macau is?"

Natsu growled as he kicked an imaginary stone, "Crap! I forgot."

"Now he's passed out completely." said Lucy.

Suddenly strange sounds from the Monkey's body caught their attention.

"What's going on!" exclaimed a panicking Natsu. There was a large poof of smoke as the body revealed itself to Macau.

"I see, he was taken over by Balkan!" shouted Happy.

"Taken over?" questioned a confused Lucy.

"A magic used to take over the body." clarified Happy.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Natsu as he leaped up to catch Macau as he fell through the hole created by his attack. Happy flew up and grabbed Natsu as he fell through who was in turn grabbed by Lucy. The strain seemed too heavy for the girl, but she was quickly aided by the now conscious Taurus who helped pull everyone up to safety.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Out of the corner of his eye Naruto witnessed Macau's transformation and decided enough was enough.

"I guess there is no reason to keep you around anymore." Naruto jumped back and picked up his staff, twirling it in his hand before leveling it at Gouki. Faster than the beast could react, Naruto delivering a strike with his weapon to the neck followed by a blow to the gut. As Gouki doubled over in pain Naruto clubbed him in the face with his ningata, sending him crashing into a wall before sliding down to the base of it. Barely conscious the beast gasped for breath as he scrambled to his feat using the wall as support. As he looked up into the cold blue eyes of his opponent for the first time he felt true fear.

"No wonder you had to leech of the souls of others for so long. You truly are weak. I'd pity you if you actually had a soul of your own." Naruto started to gather magical energy as he lifted his ningata over his head and started twirling it around.

**"IRON ROCK CRUSHER!" **roared Naruto as he swung his weapon downwards releasing a massive wave of magical energy that destroyed everything in its path. The attack nailed the beaten monster head on blasting through the wall behind him.

"AAAAHHH!" screamed Gouki as the attack tore his body apart. As the blast died out there was nothing left of the beast. A rumbling sound soon caught Naruto's attention and he remembered Gouki's earlier warning about causing an avalanche. He released his armor as he rushed back to his companions with a smirk on his face.

"NATSU! FRESH POWDER!" shouted Naruto. Minutes later Lucy's shrieks could be heard as Naruto carrying Lucy, Happy, and Natsu carrying Macau blazed down the side of the mountain in Kage Bushin snowboards.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A/N: If you didn't know Gouki is not an OC he's from YuYu Hakusho. I'm going to use that manga to pull from for guys Naruto and Natsu can fight, so Natsu's role won't be undermined during the course of the story. I decided for the first few Naruto fights to give a glimpse of each base armor in use. So, the next will be Halo. I've been trying to think of a good alias for Naruto, so far I came up with Shadow Samurai, but I think there's a better one out there. Review with any ideas for it. For readers of my other stories a Ninja of The Kais update will be following this one soon. Adios Amigos!


	4. The Duke of Everlue's Best Sellers

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything

* * *

**The Duke of Everlue's Best Sellers**

"I can't believe I received such a great deal on this place!" exclaimed a giggling Lucy as she splashed the water in her bathtub. After returning from rescuing Macau, Lisanna helped her find this nice new apartment in the middle of town across the street form the apartment building Naruto, Kyuubi, and Natsu lived in. While Natsu lived in a place quite similar to her own, she was slightly jealous of the luxurious apartment Naruto and Kyuubi lived in. It was as if the took a section of Mirajane's house and dropped it on the top floor of the building. Although if it wasn't for Mirajane and the other girls, Naruto would probably live somewhere similar to Natsu she reasoned to herself.

"If only I could afford a place like that." Lucy sighed as she finished washing her hair. "Though this place is nice too."

As she exited the bath, Lucy wrapped one towel around her body, before picking up another to dry her hair. "Though it normally cost 70000 jewels, I got it for 62500 thanks to Lisanna. The spacious rooms, storage places, pure white walls, scent of woods, little old-fashioned fire place, and lovely cooking stove make this a real steal!" Lucy danced through her apartment still clothed in only a towel as she praised its attributes. "And here is the best part..." began Lucy only to stop in shock as she entered her room to find Naruto on her couch with Kyuubi laying across his lap giving her a very sensual massage. Naruto waved at her with one hand, before continuing the ministrations on his red haired girlfriend.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!" screamed a now enraged Lucy as she picked up a large book from out of nowhere and nailed Naruto in the side of the head with it. This caught Kyuubi's attention as she jumped up quickly to placate the angered blond girl.

"Easy! Lisanna and Mira told us about your new place across the street so we decided to visit, but we got bored waiting for you to come out the shower."

As Naruto rubbed the back of his head he now observed Lucy thoroughly, eyeballing her from head to toe. "I must say the whole dripping wet in towel thing, definitely good for the sex appeal!" declared Naruto giving her two thumbs up with a perverted grin.

"YOU PIG!" exclaimed Lucy with flames in her eyes as she delivered a kick of righteous female fury to his face, inadvertently flashing him as the bottom of her towel nearly came undone. She proceeded to stomp on his face while he tried to get a better look until Kyuubi pulled her off Naruto. Somewhere in alternate universes afterlife Jiraiya felt a spontaneous compulsion to shout, 'Way to go Brat!' The redhead hugged the blond girl from behind and cupped her chest through the towel. Kyuubi whispered in her ear with a husky voice, "You know, we were considering _christening_ this place if you took any longer in the bath, but since it is your place it would only be fair if you joined in on it."

Lucy's face turned red from both anger and embarrassment. "Not you too!" she screamed while throwing both them out of her room and slamming the door so she could get dressed.

"She's way too fun to rile up. Next time let's pretend like we're actaully doing it when she comes out." proclaimed Naruto from the spot he landed on the floor as Kyuubi giggled in agreement.

"NO WAY IN HELL!" screamed Lucy as the door briefly opened for another book the nail Naruto in the head.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Lucy sat slouched in a wooden chair in her kitchen with an annoyed look on her face. "Trespassers...Criminals...You guys lack morals!" grumbled the blond. After dressing herself in a black t-shirt and some blue Capri pants, she served her intruders a cup of tea and was now trying to get them to leave. It wasn't working.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her, "That's not very nice..."

"You're being mean!" added a pouting Kyuubi.

"I'm the one whose been violated here!" yelled an even more annoyed Lucy.

"Well, we could still do that in a good way..." suggested Kyuubi.

"NO WAY!" screamed Lucy in outrage. She couldn't figure which one of the two was worse at this point.

Naruto grabbed a random stack papers that was sitting on her desk and started reading them, "Hey this is interesting..."

Lucy recognizing them as her written work, snatched them away and held them tight to her chest while giving Naruto accusing glare, "That's none of you're business!"

Naruto shrugged it off, "What? I was just curious."

"If you're just going to bug me, go home already!" complained Lucy.

Kyuubi let out a gasp pretending to be affronted, "How rude, we came to visit you!"

"I just moved and I don't even have furniture yet, just go home there is nothing to do here!" pleaded Lucy. The couple gave her a blank stare before Kyuubi stuck her finger in the air as she remembered something.

"Oh, that reminds me! Mirajane likes to keep her house up to the latest furniture and accessories, so she get's new style every season. Lisanna usually just donates the old stuff to charity, but since you just moved..." Kyuubi whipped out a scroll and dragged her finger across the seal opening it, several boxes and pieces of furniture popped out.

"Mirajane's furniture..." Lucy drooled at the site before turning and bowing to Kyuubi like she was an almighty god, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Well you could do us a favor..." replied Kyuubi nonchalantly as she pretended to inspect her fingernails.

Now realizing she had been set up, Lucy gave them a suspicious look. "What kind of favor..." she replied in a wary tone.

Just as she said this Natsu barged into her apartment followed shortly by Lisanna and Happy.

"We got the maid outfit! Is she ready to go or what?" questioned the pink haired mage rudely.

Lucy just stared at them in disbelief, "Maid outfit..."

Lisanna smacked Natsu in the back of the head. "That was rude! You were supposed to knock!" Lisanna scolded him before turning to Lucy. "I picked out the outfit! You're going to love it! It's so cute!"

Lucy continued staring at them in disbelief, "Maid outfit..."

Kyuubi coughed to gain her attention. "Well, there is a job out there we could use your help with..." sheepishly supplied Kyuubi as she passed the job posting over the Lucy.

Lucy read the posting, first seeing the highlighted warning that the Duke of Everlue is a big pervert and womanizer, but then getting excited at the 200000 jewel reward. She then saw the note detailing he was looking to hire a blond maid and realized exactly why they wanted her.

"It's easy, you've got blond hair you can sneak in. Then we can get the book!" declared Natsu.

"The only reason you came to me is because I have blond hair! Planning this from the beginning, how cruel!" exclaimed Lucy in an over dramatic fashion.

"I told you she wouldn't do it. Just let me use the Orioke no Jutsu!" declared Naruto slamming his fist on the table.

Kyuubi then slammed his head face first into the kitchen table putting an end to that line of thinking, "That technique is forbidden."

"Oh, I should inform you that job sheet is a bit out of date. The reward was bumped up to 2 million." informed Lisanna.

Dollar signs suddenly appeared her eyes as she started to drool, "2 million! Why didn't you say so earlier!"

Seeing this strategy was working much better, Naruto reeled her in even more, "Oh and you'll only be working Kyuubi. Natsu and I will be working on a different job in the same area. So you'll get half the cut."

In blur Lucy appeared at her front door prepared to work. "What are you losers waiting for! Let's go!" she ordered.

Natsu forked over a couple bills to Naruto, "I've been telling you for years Natsu, with women money talks." A book sailed from out of nowhere and nailed him in the head again.

"That girl must be part bat." grumbled Naruto as he rubbed the bump forming on his head.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Back at the guild Levi stood in front of the job board with her hands on her hips slightly disappointed, "Aw man. Someone took that 200,000 job at the duke of Everlue's mansion already."

"Yeah, Kyuubi is apparently teaming up with Lucy for that job." informed Mirajane as she cleaned off a nearby table.

Levi sighed in frustration, "Too bad that looked like easy money."

"Levi...It's probably best that you didn't take that job." suggested Makarov.

Levi looked up in surprise, "Ah, Guild Master!"

"That job just became even more troublesome, I just got in touch with the client..." started Makarov.

"The job was canceled?" questioned Mirajane, interrupting him.

"No..." a sly grin formed on Makarov's face as he continued in a playful tone, "The reward was upgraded to 2 million Jewels...or so I was told."

Immediately everyone jumped up in shock, "10 times more! 2 million for one lousy book!"

As the entire guild buzzed with energy over this new piece of information, Gray sat of to the side chuckling while smoking his cigarette.

"2 million huh? Sounds like I'm missing out on an interesting mission." surmised the black haired mage.

"I assure you the one we've got lined up is much more interesting." commented a deep baritone voice from behind him. He turned to see Elfman and Naruto standing behind him and smirking.

"Common, Natsu's waiting outside for us." said Naruto as he and Elfman turned and walked towards the exit.

"You could have picked a better fourth." grumbled Gray as he stood up and put out his cigarette.

"I could tell Erza which pair of morons nearly destroyed her favorite restaurant last week when she get's back." retorted Naruto.

Gray suddenly paled.

"Or we could tell my sister who put the the hole in her pantry wall during her last party." suggested Elfman.

"Touche." replied a now white as a sheet Gray.

As Makarov watched the trio exit and meet up with Natsu and Happy outside the building he let loose a long sigh, "This going to be a nightmare."

"What's the matter?" asked Mirajane.

"Between Gray, your brother, your boyfriend, and Natsu on the same mission..." Makarov suddenly looked up at her with tears in his eyes, "I'll be buried in paperwork by the council for weeks!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Lucy let out a peaceful sigh as she stared out the window while the small wooden carriage moved along the dirt road through the green grass and short trees of the countryside. She almost couldn't believe that she was about to embark on her first official job as a member of a guild.

"This is a really easy job right? Not too much trouble at all?" Lucy asked her red haired traveling companion.

Kyuubi raised her eyebrow at the question as small smirk appeared on her face, "You didn't seem to keen on helping out until you found out what the reward was."

"Well, this is my first official job. I want to make a good impression! I'll do my best!" exclaimed Lucy as she pumped her fist in the air. "Just sneak in and get the book, then get out right?"

"The reward wouldn't be for 2 million if it was really that simple. I should warn you that this mission is a lot more dangerous than it appears. The Duke of Everlue is not merely a perverted old man. He's involved in organized crime, which means we'll have to fight our way out at some point." replied Kyuubi.

Lucy paled a little at the last part of her statement, "Fight our way out..."

Kyuubi dismissed her worries, "Don't worry too much. I can handle whatever thugs he's trudged up. You just make sure the perverted old fart takes the bait."

Lucy officially entered panic mode, "I'M JUST THE BAIT! Couldn't we have brought Lisanna along? She does shape shifting magic! She could be the bait!"

Kyuubi suddenly gained a solemn look as she answered, "She doesn't really do missions anymore."

"Why not? Something happen to her?" questioned Lucy with a touch of concern in her voice.

The redhead shrugged, "Not my place to tell, but let's just say there was an incident and leave it at that. Besides I am perfectly capable handling things if you get caught."

"Wait, I haven't seen you do any magic yet! What type of mage are you?" asked a now intrigued Lucy.

_"Technically I'm not a mage_...You'll see soon enough." replied Kyuubi causing Lucy to frown in disappointment. Then something suddenly dawned on her.

"Hey, if we're going to the same place, why didn't those guys come with us?" questioned the blond.

"It's a short way, and Naruto didn't want to pay extra if Natsu puked on the seats." deadpanned Kyuubi.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Why did we decide to travel on foot!" exclaimed Gray in frustration as the four mages and cat climbed a steep hill on the way to Shiro-Tsume town. The ice mage lagged behind the group breathing heavily. He definitely regretted not taking the carriage now.

"Real men have stamina!" proclaimed Elfman from up ahead.

"Yet another reason why Gray is still a virgin." added Naruto condescendingly.

Natsu roared with laughter pointing his finger at Gray.

"I don't know what you're laughing for punk! There's no way and idiot like you's gotten laid! You wouldn't know what to do!" shot back the dark haired mage.

At this statement Naruto, Natsu, Happy and Elfman collapsed to the ground with raucous laughter.

"Oh, man. That's hilarious! No really knows who writes Icha Icha!" roared Elfman.

"I told you greatest prank ever pulled." replied Naruto shaking his finger at him in an 'I told you so' manner.

"Everyone still thinks its you!" exclaimed Natsu and rolled on the ground banging his fist. Gray stared at them like they were all insane.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

After arriving in town Lucy and Kyuubi quickly made their way to the luxurious home of their client.

"This mansion is spectacular!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Well, if your going to pay 2 million to retrieve a book, you must be loaded." responded Kyuubi offhandedly as she knocked on the door.

"May I have your name please?" a voice asked from inside.

"Yeah, we're from mage guild Fairy..." started Kyuubi only to be cut off by the voice.

"SSHH! Please be Quiet!" commanded the voice causing Kyuubi to huff. "Could you come around and enter through the back door please?"

After moving around to the rear entrance, the duo was welcomed in by the client and his wife.

"I'm sorry about earlier, I'm the client Kirby Melon and this is my wife." greeted Kirby.

"It's no problem." replied Kyuubi. They all took a seat and got right down to business.

"There is only one thing I am asking you to do. The one and only copy of "Day Break" the Duke of Everlue owns, I want you to destroy it." declared Kirby.

"So we're not stealing it?" questioned Lucy.

"I am asking you to destroy someone's possession without their permission, you might as well call it stealing." answered Kirby evasively.

"Hmm..I was expecting you to ask us to retrieve the book he took from you." stated Kyuubi.

"No, I do not wish to have it. I cannot forgive the existence of that book." said Kirby.

"Well, thank you for your time. We'll get on it right away." stated Kyuubi as she and Lucy exited.

_'What did he mean by that...can't forgive it's existence...' _thought Lucy as they left._  
_

"Do you think it was wise to trust such a job to those girls?" asked Kirby's wife. He let out a deep sigh.

"The other guild that tried last week failed. The Duke dismissed it as nothing more than a failed robbery." she continued.

"I know..." he started only to be cut off.

"There is no doubt security has been tightened, so getting into the mansion will be even more difficult." she finished.

"I know that, but..." Kirby leaned over and sighed again as he started to tear up. "That book must be removed from this world."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Are you sure that information was accurate? Everything here looks completely normal." stated Gray as he peered through his binoculars. The team set up shop at the edge of the forest that bordered the complex for the Duke of Everlue's mansion.

"The Duke of Everlue is nothing more than a crook. He uses his position as a nobleman to cover up the fact that he's the main money launderer for the Black Creek Club. They're one of the top crime syndicates out there. They were behind _that_ incident." informed Naruto.

A scowl immediately formed on Natsu's face. "The Black Creek Club..." murmured the pink haired mage.

Elfman picked up on his change in mood and mirrored it. "That's right bro, it's **those bastards**..." sneered Elfman.

Naruto continued giving out background information, "The midget bastard has been using this job posting as a means of turning a profit by having his associates gamble on the battles between the mages and his guards. Naturally he pissed off a couple guilds with his little scheme and the higher ups sent him some new body guards."

"Who?" asked Gray.

"The mercenary demon squad known as the four saint beasts." replied Elfman.

"I heard of them. They're a ruthless bunch of assholes by reputation." stated Gray.

"They're also damn good, since that reputation as all anyone has on them. No none names, aliases, or skills have been found on them since no one has survived a fight with them." supplied an annoyed Naruto.

"So, how are we going to do this?" asked Natsu.

"Well, each beasts is guarding a safe. In one of those safe's is our target, his ledger. We are supposed to be working in tandem with the girls using their entry into the mansion looking for that book as a diversion for us to sneak in and steal the ledger." said Naruto in a nonchalant manner.

"That's no fun." pouted Natsu.

"I said that's where supposed to do...We're actually doing this the fun way." stated Naruto with a grin the was soon mirrored by his comrades.

"Bust down the door to get their attention, and everybody get's one?" responded Elfman in more of a statement than a question.

Naruto nodded in agreement, "I drew up a makeshift map of the place based on the scouting by my clones. We use Janken to decide who goes where."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

At the main gates of the Mansion Complex the next day, Lucy and Kyuubi stood patiently waiting for someone to come answer their call. Lucy wore her maid outfit, while Kyuubi was dressed in a black and white pinstripe professional outfit holding a clipboard.

"Hello? Is anyone here? We're here from the Icha Icha Maid Agency regarding your add." called out Kyuubi again.

Suddenly the ground rumbled and bubbled up next to them before opening as a giant obese woman in a way too small maid outfit emerged and landed in front of them.

"Who are you?" the maid demanded in a threatening manor.

Kyuubi stuck her hand forward in a greeting fashion, "I'm Risa Lake for Icha Icha maid agency, and this is one of our contract maids Maria, here to apply for your blond haired mage position."

The maid just stared at her outstretched hand before turning her head back towards the hole she just came from, "Master..."

"Did somebody say Icha Icha!" called out a voice from the tunnel just made by the giant maid. Seconds later a round form shot through the tunnel and landed while doing a silly dance.

"BOYOYOYOOON! I heard it! Someone said Icha Icha!" exclaimed the Duke of Everlue.

"He's Here!" stammered Lucy in shock of seeing the hideous man in person.

Kyuubi could barely maintain a straight face as she looked at the guy, almost bursting out in laughter, _'This guy...he's ridiculous!'_

"You are correct sir. As I said before I am Risa Lake from the Icha Icha maid agency." Kyuubi retrieved a fake business card from her clipboard and handed it to the man.

"I didn't know you guys had a maid agency! I would have started using it long ago." replied The Duke wistfully.

"Well, the truth is we only cater to the most exclusive clients. With you recent increase in wealth and status, one of your business associates recommended you would be interested, and after seeing your posted add we decided to offer our services." stated Kyuubi.

"That's fantastic!" exclaimed the Duke.

Kyuubi pulled Lucy in front of her in a presenting fashion, "Today I brought with me one of our top trained maids, Maria. She fits the sexy blond maid description you were looking for."

The Duke then gave Lucy a look over from head to toe.

_'He-he's giving me the creeps. Just hang in there a little longer...'_ thought a nervous Lucy.

"REJECTED! This one is too ugly, bring me another." stated the duke in a dismissive fashion as he waved her off. Lucy nearly fainted in shock.

"Sir, Maria is our top ranked blond maid! She's received raved reviews from all our other clients!" pleaded Kyuubi.

"Not good enough." suddenly five more of his maids appear. All were some of the most hideous women on the planet. Kyuubi almost retched at the site of them.

"I only go for the sexy ladies like these! Boyoyoyo..." perversely giggled the Duke with a cheesy grin.

"Oh master!" exclaimed the maids with hearts in their eyes.

Kyuubi only nodded before grabbing a completely frozen in shock Lucy and hauling ass out of there before she puked.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Back inside his mansion the Duke of Everlue sat comfortably in a large chair smoking a cigar. Three shadowed figures loomed behind him, one wearing a hooded cloak.

"Sir, it looks like the mages have breached the perimeter." commented the cloaked figure.

The Duke spun around in his seat to face the empty back wall of the room as he twisted his mustache. "Excellent! Now the games will really be interesting! Connect us with today's players."

"As you wish." The hooded figure twisted the staff in his hand as he cast a spell, "Egardus Portus!" Four beams of lightning shot out from his staff each illuminating a quarter of the wall like a projection screen. On each section of the wall the projection of four men seated in chairs appeared, with the fourth's face hidden by shadow.

"Welcome Gentlemen! As you can see a group of mages has once again taken up the job of retrieving that little book from me. Last time our fun was cut short as neither of the mages made it past my initial defense wave. However, we've got better competition this time. These girls came from Fairy Tail!" proclaimed the Duke.

"Fairy Tail mages are supposedly halfway decent, should be interesting." stated the man on the far left.

"I've read of those fools, their just as liable to blow up half your complex than to complete the job. This is easy money." sneered the man next to him.

"What happened to Moroku?" questioned the third man.

"A yes our former associate Nobleman Moroku met with an untimely accident and will no longer be joining us." informed the Duke.

"Heh, the old fool got caught in his office with his secretary by his wife. She beat the crap out of him, took his money, and ran off with the secretary!" commented the shadowed man.

"Ah, well informed as always. Our new player, famous author those little orange books, Akira Rose!" The shadows cleared revealing a slightly effeminate red haired man, dressed in a elegant red suit.

"Akira Rose..." stammered the man on the far left.

"The author of Icha Icha?" questioned the one next to Akira.

"Pleased to make you're acquaintances. As a show of gratitude for accepting me into your little game, I've sent you all an autographed pre-released copy of my next book. I do hope to find some inspiration from today and future gatherings." stated Akira.

"You've really outdone yourself this time Duke!" commented the second man.

"Save you gratitude for after I've taken all your money. Now..." the Duke was cut-off by a ruckus explosion.

"Captain what's happening!" roared the Duke.

"Sir, we have more intruders. This seems to be a separate group who have busted down the rear wall of the complex." answered the cloaked man.

"Well have you and your men man their positions. No doubt this was the strike you were sent here to prevent. Gentlemen it looks like the games have gotten even more interesting! Now who wants to start the bets..."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Lucy and Kyuubi had just sneaked into the mansion via a second floor window, when the explosion hit.

"What the hell just happened!" screamed Lucy as she fell to the floor.

"Those moron's ditched the plan." said a sighing Kyuubi. She was looking forward to actually having some fun this time. "Let's go, only weaklings stand in our way now."

Lucy didn't respond, she merely pointed over Kyuubi shoulder with a look of panic. The redhead turned to face the entire contingent of the Duke's maids, lead by their enormous leader.

"Intruders!" bellowed the lead giant maid.

Kyuubi's hands suddenly shape-shifted into claws as she charged the hideous creatures with a battle cry, "Die Ugly Bitches!"

Lucy could only watch in shock as there was a red blur for a few seconds and then Kyuubi sitting on top of a pile of unconscious maids.

"What are you staring at let's go!" ordered Kyuubi as she hoped off the pile. "I bet the next ones are even weaker."

Lucy could only nod absentmindedly as she followed, still in shock.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The Natsu and Company walked forward through the rear courtyard of the complex with a pile of unconscious low level thugs behind them and behind that a demolished rear wall of the complex.

"Sorry guys, I figured those thugs would have been a better warm up." apologized Naruto.

"They just don't make low level thugs like the used to." complained Elfman.

"Ain't that the truth." added Natsu.

"Aye." agreed Happy.

"Well, I guess we should split up from here." stated Naruto.

"Meet up at the front door when we're done?" asked Gray.

"Where else?" answered a shrugging Naruto.

With that they all took off in separate directions.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Lucy and Kyuubi managed to work their way to the Duke's library without further interruption. The two were now searching through his collection of books for Day Break.

"That Duke of Everlue may look stupid, but he has a good collection of books." commented Lucy as she placed a book back on the shelf.

Kyuubi snorted from her spot across the room, "Sure that's why this entire wall over here seems to be devoted to smut."

"Well these over here seem to be good. If he reads these books, I'll respect him a little bit." said Lucy as she put a romance novel back on the shelf.

"Searching through all these is going to be a pain in the ass." whined Kyuubi as she looked at the towering shelves they'd yet to search.

"Hopefully we'll get luc- Hey I found it! Day Break by Kemu Zaleon!" exclaimed Lucy holding up a golden book.

"Good! Burn it and we can bail before this place is burned to the ground." ordered Kyuubi.

"No way! I want to read it! I'm a big fan of Kemu Zaleon! He's a mage as well as an author. This must be one of his unpublished works!" shouted Lucy.

"Who cares? Our job is to burn it." reminded Kyuubi.

Lucy stared at her horrified, "This book is a cultural heritage! We can't burn it!"

"If we don't do the job, we don't get paid. The 2 million remember?" stated a slightly irritated Kyuubi as she tapped her foot impatiently.

This startled Lucy, but only momentarily, "We can burn another book and say it was this one! I can't read the book if we destroy it!"

Smoke rolled into the room as one of the doors slammed open revealing two shadowed figures.

"You here that brother? She wants to keep the book." stated the shorter one.

"We could always bury her with it, but Mama always says not to leave any evidence behind." replied the taller one. Kyuubi immediately recognized them as a pair of mercenaries as he stepped into the light.

"The Vanish Brothers from the Southern Wolves Mercenary guild? Is this the best he can do?" questioned Kyuubi in a bored tone.

"The little girls from fairy tail don't seem so impressed." commented the taller brother.

"Little girl?" Kyuubi's eye twitched in annoyance. "Lucy, you have until I'm finished with these clowns to read that book."

"Thank you!" squealed Lucy as she hurried off into another room to read.

"Looks like your companion abandoned you." stated the bald brother.

"That's actually worse for you, you see without her around I can really cut loose!" The evil gleam in her eye and spike of killing intent froze the brothers in their tracks.

Lucy had just whipped out her wind reading glasses to speed read when the shouts and screams of horror from the venture brothers forced her to pick up and move to a room further away.

"Note to self: Do not anger Kyuubi." murmured Lucy as she scrambled away.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The Duke was mildly annoyed by the performance of his mercenaries, but he was confident on making up his losses on the next round of betting.

_'See if I hire anyone from that guild again!'_ he silently seethed.

"Ha! Everlue your losing money on those girls." gloated one of the gamblers.

"Who cares about the little bitches. The real money is on the mysterious intruders about to take on the four saint beasts!" exclaimed the Duke.

"Impressive. Four on one gives them a good shot to actually win a few." stated an intrigued Akira.

"Alright so the bet is how many beasts do you think they can defeat." proclaimed the Duke.

"250,000 on only one."

"750,000 on two."

"600,000 on none."

"5 million on all four." stated an eerily calm Akira.

"Whoa! Looks like the rookie is out of his element here!"

"Yeah! With that bet alone, he'll double your fortune Duke!"

_'Or wipe me out...'_ thought a slightly nervous Duke. _'But this is the saint beasts! They can't be beaten! I'm guaranteed to make out ahead.'_

"Looks like I'll be rolling in your dough soon enough Akira! The fact that the intruders will loose is sure thing!" proclaimed the Duke.

"If I've learned one thing from my forays in romance, it's that there is no such thing as a sure thing." replied Akira.

"Except this!" mocked one of the other gamblers.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Elfman was sure he lucked into the most annoying opponent of the four beasts. His opponent, Genbu, was composed entirely of stone and possessed the ability to merge with stone, and unluckily for Elfman the entire room they were fighting in was made of stone.

"This is like a shitty version of whack a mole." complained Elfman as Genbu sunk back into the ground again. It didn't matter where he hid, Elfman could always sniff him out. Annoyed with Genbu's popping in and out of everywhere, Elfman decided to end it quickly.

"I'm going to smash you into rubble! Let's go! **Beast Arm: Iron Bull!**" roared Elfman as his arm transformed into metal. Genbu tried to reemerge from the ceiling right above Elfman and strike with his tail, but Elfman was waiting for him and jumped straight up.

"Gotcha!" bellowed Elfman as he connected with a uppercut straight to Genbu's face, shattered the stone beast into smaller pieces.

"That was way too easy." complained Elfman as he stared at the pile of stones that was once Genbu.

"Do you really think this is over?" Genbu's voice called out. Suddenly the stones raised into the air shifting around until Genbu was reformed.

"Your blows are nothing to me! I'll regenerate from even the strongest attacks!" Genbu suddenly thrusted his arms forward with them dissolving into smaller stones and shooting at Elfman. Elfman shielded himself from the onslaught with his mental arm, before charging towards Genbu who sunk back into the ground. Watching the path of the stones still above ground Elfman guessed the spot Genbu would emerge from next and hammered the stone beast again causing his body to fall apart.

"Fool! Your attacks are nothing!" roared Genbu voice as instead of reforming he shot the stone parts of his body at Elfman again. As the pieces flew at him, Elfamn noticed one stone in the middle of them all glowing red and grabbed it before moving to the other side of the room as Genbu reformed. As he turned back Elfman started roaring with laughter.

"Looks like this piece was important after all!" he mocked.

"Huh? What did you do!" bellowed Genbu as he suddenly realized his head was were his crotch was supposed to be.

"I wonder what will happen if I do this..." questioned Elfman as he crushed the stone in his hand.

"No-" Genbu suddenly exploded, reduced to nothing but a pile of stone dust.

"That was way to easy." complained Elfman as he reverted his transformation. "I would take his powers...if there weren't so lame. Ah, there it is! A floor safe!"

Elfman leaned over the safe in the floor contemplating how to get to what was inside without destroying it.

X-X-X-X-X

As Natsu and happy descended the steps of the passageway leading to their destination, it finally came to an end at a cavernous area lighted by torches. Only the area closest to the stairs was illuminated with the rest pitch black. Right as the duo set foot into the cavern, loud roars could be heard causing rocks to shake loose in the cavern. The pink-haired mage and his cat companion traveled forward as if there was nothing wrong. Natsu engulfed his fist with flames to light up the nearby area as the two moved along through the cavern.

"So what do you think our beast is going to be?" Happy asked his partner.

Natsu shrugged, "Who knows? I just hope it's strong!"

They soon approached an illuminated opening in the distance. When the reached the opening, they found it lead to a large room lit up by both lights and torches. Unlike the rough floor of the cavern, the room had stone tiles for flooring. The place took on the feeling of some sort of battle arena. The roaring they kept hearing was now almost deafening as it originated from the back of the room. It suddenly stopped as the roaring beast emerged from the shadows, revealing himself to be a humanoid saber tooth tiger. His two bottom canine teeth were so large they reached up to his cheeks. His fur was light blue, with gray claw markings around his body and face. He also had yellow eyes with black pupils and olive green hair, with a mane flowing down his back. He sported a toga with animal skin leg warmers, and a red sash belt.

"Hey! It's a really big cat!" exclaimed Natsu in surprise.

"Pitiful weaklings." growled the beast in disgust. "Prepare yourselves its been a while since I've had a good meal!"

"Oh and he talks just like you!" stammered Natsu in shock.

"Aye, but he's kind of mean. Maybe he hasn't had any good fish. Hey! Maybe we could him to Naruto so he can have a cat companion!" exclaimed Happy.

"Yeah! Then they could go on adventures like us!" replied Natsu with a strange gleam in his eye. The two quickly delved in the senseless chatter about the types of adventures Naruto could go on with a talking tiger. The beast growled at their idiocy.

"This is what they send me? Byakko, the white tiger, the great predator of the Saint Beasts, reduced to fighting an idiot teenager and his pet! This is the best hunt I can get!" bellowed Byakko in rage as Natsu and Happy continued their daydreaming unaware. "These fools aren't even worth my time." complained the snorting white tiger. The giant battle cat plucked a few hairs from his mane before infusing them with some of his power and tossing them forward. From the hairs four small tiger-like green beasts formed, all growling and snarling at Natsu and Happy.

"Beasts Go!" commanded Byakko. The creatures charged the duo, forcing Natsu to take action. Happy sprouted wings and flew up above to give Natsu some space. The pink haired mage engulfed his hands in flame as the beasts approached. He dodged the first beast's attempt to chomp his head off before blocking the second's swipe with its claws. The third leaped in an attempt to pounce on him, but he disengaged with the second and rolled out of the way into the path of the fourth one charging him head on.

**"Salamander's Iron Fist!"** The flame enhanced punch nailed the beast in the face and it's smoking corpse landed at the feet of its creator. As one of the other beasts attacked him from behind his left foot suddenly ignited on fire as he leaned to the left to dodge.

**"Salamander's Claw!"** The flame powered roundhouse kick cut right through beasts side life a hot knife through butter. Both halves of the beast became engulfed in flame before burning to ash. Byakko was impressed by the nearly effortless disposal of two of his creations.

"It looks like they sent some decent prey after all. Don't get to cocky boy. The beasts are an extension of myself and feed of my energy. That was only a small portion!" Right as he said this the remaining two beasts moved back in front of Natsu and glowed red as Byakko fed them more energy. The two beasts doubled in both size and ferocity.

"Bring it on kittens!" mocked Natsu. The beasts charged him attempting to claw his face off. He dodged several strikes from beasts with a few close calls. Eventually one of the beasts leaped at him again in an attempt to pounce. He ducked as it went over head, before reaching up and grabbing it's tail. Igniting his arms with flame to boost his strength he swung the first beasts by it's tail into the second beast. Both creatures slammed into the wall roughly as Natsu leaped high into the are facing them.

**"Salamander's Wing Attack!"** Natsu launched two streams of fire from his ignited hands, incinerating both of the monsters. Happy then latched onto his back and pulled him out of the way of some energy darts launched by Byakko. Frustrated by the loss of his beasts the giant tiger let loose another earth shaking roar causing Natsu to plug his ears.

"Foolish Human! I'll rip you apart and eat you myself!" Byakko lifted up his fists, charging energy in the middle of his fingers and launched again at his now aerial prey. Thanks to some fancy flying from Happy, they dodged the attacks unscathed and darted towards Byakko. Natsu leaped from Happy's grasp delivering a flame enhanced kick that Byakko blocked. Natsu slashed him across the chest, tearing off a part of Byakko's toga. The white tiger grabbed Natsu by the leg and flung him into to wall. Natsu slammed up against it violently before sliding down to floor.

"Your puny attacks won't hurt me boy! It's time to take things up a notch." Byakko clasped his hands around his throat unleashing scream powered energy blast. Natsu scrambled out of the way to dodge it as it impacted the ground leaivng a huge crater as everything the attack touched turned to ash.

"HAHAHA! My **Tiger Scream** destroys anything it touches. Eventually you'll have no where left to run!" bellowed Byakko as he unleashed another volley of attacks.

"I could use some fire right about now..." grumbled Natsu as he dodged the next wave of attacks. Hearing his partner, Happy scanned the room for something that could be useful. Spotting the large portion of Byakko's toga still sitting on the ground, he flew over and grabbed one of the torches illuminating the room before dropping it on the toga, igniting it.

"Natsu!" cried out Happy to alert him.

"You rock Happy!" called out Natsu as he rushed towards the flame dodging blasts all along the way. Picking up his meal Togo he continued to dodge blasts while devouring the flames.

"Spicy!" exclaimed Natsu as he completed his meal and shrouded his body in flames. He noticed the amount of ash that collected around the room from Byakko errant attacks. Naruto ran towards Byakko before dropping into a slide kicking up ash in the air to obscure Byakko's vision as he sailed by.

"What is this!" roared Byakko as he was blinded.

"Your screams weak! They should be more like this, **Salamander's Roar!**" Natsu popped up right in front of Byakko unleashing his massive breath of fire at point blank range. As the flame died out all that remained was the charred skeleton of Byakko.

"A little to well done..." observed Natsu.

"Aye." agreed Happy.

"Now, where is that safe..." questioned Natsu as he ignited his hands with fire.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

When Gray reached the target room he found the door marked by a blue dragon insignia. Gray opened the door to surprisingly find himself in a large vacant room shrouded with thick fog.

"This fog is laced with magical energy..." observed Gray as he scanned around.

"How delightful that one of you managed to make it this far." echoed an ominous voice that seemed to come from everywhere in the fog.

"Cut, the spook voice crap and show yourself." retorted an irritated Gray.

"As you wish." the voice echoed back. White lightning crackled in front of Gray followed by a flash of white light that blinded him momentarily. When he regain his vision most of the fog had dissipated and a towering thin figure stood across him. The figure possessed pale green skin, black facial hair, and a dark blue cap covered his hair. He wore a blue martial arts robe tied at the waist by a large white strap and featuring the image of a blue dragon wrapping around his shoulder.

"I, Seiryuu the blue dragon, will have the pleasure of executed the last of you intruders." he declared.

Gray started laughing in response, "The last? We all split up so we could each get our own fight."

At this Seiryuu formed an evil smirk, "Fool! Together you may have stood a chance at defeating one of us. Individually you've sealed your fate." He roared as he glowed with energy and some of the thick fog returned to the room. Seiryuu crouched and brought his fist backwards, channeling his power into it.

**"ICE DRAGON!" **Seiryuu thrust his glowing fist forward unleashing his attack. Gray leaped to his left to dodge the attack as a portion of the ground where he just stood froze.

"Your not so special. **Freeze!**" Gray cast his spell at Seiryuu forcing him to leap to the right as a section of the wall behind him froze.

"Such weak attack power! My Ice Dragon technique is far superior!" mocked Seiryuu.

Gray nearly fell flat on his face. "You Idiot! It's the same attack!" exclaimed Gray in annoyance. Shaking his head at his opponent's idiocy, Gray cast another spell.

"**Ice Make: Hammer!**" A large Ice Hammer formed above the head of Seiryuu and slammed down towards him. He reacted quickly, coating his right fist in ice before swinging upwards with his punch striking in the center of the face of the hammer.

"**ICE DRAGON FIST!" **The hammer of ice shattered on impact into to small shards of ice that hovered in the air momentarily before gathering around the left fist and right foot of Seiryuu. His extremities now coated with ice, he charged after Gray. Gray countered the charge by casting a spell to keep his opponent at a distance.

**"Ice Make: Shield!"** Gray stood firm behind his shield of ice that formed about 20 feet in front of him as Seiryuu approached and leaped at him with a kick.

**"ICE DRAGON CLAW!"** The ice covered leg of Seiryuu broke through Gray's shield with little resistance and nailed him right shoulder. Seiryuu followed with an uppercut using his other ice covered limb the nailed Gray in the chin and sent him flying into the wall. Gray groaned as he slammed into the wall, before sliding down to the floor. He grimaced while rubbing his sore jaw before spitting out some blood.

_'Dammit, this bastard fights like Natsu! He must be a slayer! I need to change my approach.'_ thought Gray as he rubbed his shoulder, that luckily was not dislocated by the last attack. Seiryuu observed his downed opponent in a condescending manner, slightly disappointed Gray was not proving to be a decent fight.

"Do you know see how futile this battle is? A weakling ice mage like yourself is no match for the power of the Ice Dragon!" sneered Seiryuu.

"Don't get too cocky. I know girls who hit harder than you." mocked Gray in response. Now replaying the battle in his head Gray noticed something off with Seiryuu's style of fighting, so he decided to test a theory.

**"****Ice Make: Floor!"** Gray slammed his hands onto floor covering half of it with a thick layer of ice. Seiryuu now looked down puzzled by this spell, all it did was cover the floor on his half of the room in ice.

"Fool you're only wasting your energy. Don't worry I'll make your end swift." stated Seiryuu, his tone laced with arrogance and superiority. He crouched and drew his fist back with the fog swirling around him as he prepared another attack. As he did this Gray formed a bow made of ice in his right hand.

"You've already lost this fight." stated Gray calmly.

"Fool! I'll show you no mercy! **ICE DRAGON!**" roared Seiryuu his voice laced with contempt from Gray's statement. Gray swiftly dodged the attack by leaping forward and to the left. He countered with his own attack forming four ice arrows.

**"Ice Make: Arrows!"** Gray fired the four arrows in rapid section forcing Seiryuu to dodge, however the dark haired demon misjudged his landing and slipped on the icy floor created by Gray earlier. One of Gray's arrows landed true, piercing right through his left leg. As he struggled to remove the arrow from his leg, Seiryuu was unprepared for Gray's final attack.

**"Ice Make: Lance!"** A large ice lance shot forward from Gray, impaling Seiryuu through the chest and into the rear wall.

"How.." gasped Seiryuu as he coughed up blood violently.

"Your an insult to both slayers and ice mages. Nothing more than a thug with a lot of energy trying to get by on half your lessons. A real slayer would have consumed the ice I layered the floor with and definitely not have slipped on it. A real master of ice techniques would have more than two moves. Be gone."

At this Seiryuu screamed before dieing and vanishing in a bright flash of magical energy. The room suddenly contorted and shifted before reforming as a normal hallway with a door at the end. Gray opened the door to find himself in the Duke's master bedroom. He immediately moved over to the safe and got to work on getting it open.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto easily reached his location, a short tower shooting up from the south side of the mansion. As he climbed inside the window open, how found himself in s

"How unfortunate for you, for of all the choices you ended up facing me, Suzaku the leader of the Saint beasts." stated Suzaku as he removed his cloak.

"Yes, how unfortunate." replied Naruto with a grin, excited at getting the leader for his fight.

"Ah, an eager warrior, very well I will grant you a worthy final battle." replied Suzakuy as he sensed his excitement.

"I suppose it would be too much for you to stand aside and let me have the safe." commented Naruto nonchalantly.

"Why should I? Soon the other Saint Beasts will have defeated your companions and the game will be over." responded Suzaku.

Suzaku's look of confidence soon morphed to confusion as Naruto continued staring him down now sporting a smirk. "You'd do well not to underestimate the mages of Fairy Tail."

The Naruto facing him vanished in a column of smoke, forcing Suzaku to react quickly to dodge a Naruto bearing down on him with the rasengan from behind. He grabbed and threw Naruto towards the ceiling, who fired off the failed attack from his hand. The rasengan bore through the ceiling before exploding, creating a massive opening to the outside. Naruto somersaulted in midair before landing on his feet across from Suzaku once again.

The brief demonstration of abilities gained Suzaku's interest, "I must say that attack of yours is quite powerful, almost as strong as the legendary blasts created by your armors. If you could actually manage to hit me with one, you might stand a chance."

Rather than being frustrated by the missed attack, Naruto was impressed,_ 'There's is no doubt about it now, this guy is definitely the leader. His natural reaction time is incredible, this should be an incredible battle!'_

"I must say I love what you've down with the ceiling. At little skylight really brightens up the place." Thunder echoed and lightning flashed above them in the cloudy sky as Suzaku lifted his left arm into the air palm up. Suddenly a massive surge of yellow lightning hit him collecting in his hand.

"If this anything like the chidori, I should be able to block it easily..." stated a calm Naruto as he quickly formed a rasengan in his hand to counter.

"Are you ready?" roared Suzaku as he brought his arm covered in yellow sparking energy backwards and charged Naruto. "**Storm of Torment!**"

Suzaku thrusts his attack forward as he reached Naruto, who countered with a rasengan that successful diverted the attack momentarily before Suzaku shifted his aim away from Naruto into what appeared to be a missed attack. Naruto smirked as he thrust forward with his rasengan only for his body freeze up as volts of electricity coursed through him from head to toe. His body writhed in pain as he cried out before collapsing to the ground on one knee. The panting Naruto looked up to face his smirking opponent completely befuddled at the sequence of events.

_'I could have sworn he missed me...'_ thought Naruto as he tried to recover. He remained still and started to wiggle his fingers to regain the lost feeling and wait for the numbness in his body to subside.

Suzaku continued to look down upon Naruto with the same smug look, the tone of superiority in his voice never wavering, "I bet you're wondering how my attack succeeded even though you manged to avoid contact. You'll find that the energy will seek you out like lightning to a rod."

_'He's lightning natures, his affinity must be the reason for his incredible speed and reaction time. I only have one option, even I can't afford to take another attack like that.' _thought Naruto.

The blond haired demon raised his hand into the air again to prepare another attack, "You should take pride in being the first person ever to survive my technique, however you won't be able to withstand another."

_'That's it keep talking you fool...'_ thought Naruto as he regained more feeling in his limbs. "Considering you're a coward who hides in the shadows, I find that believable."

Suzaku frowned in irritation and his tone changed to one of annoyance, "We Saint beasts are no cowards. We are demon warriors of the highest caliber."

"Yeah, that's exactly why no one knows of your skills and identities. You only fight weaklings who won't live to tell the tale of your exploits. That's exactly why I'm going to destroy you!" retorted Naruto.

"Are all guild mages this stupid? Warriors much more talented that you have fallen at my feet, at because of their shear stupidity. All bark and no bite. What makes you think you are any different!" yelled Suzaku.

"You're the fool! Why you've been blabbering about, I've gained enough time to turn this fight in my favor. Your strength is now my strength, **Armor of the Halo! Dao Rei!**" Green light mixed with sparks of lightning enveloped Naruto as the lighting element green armor formed over his body. When the light died down Naruto appeared in a crouched stance wielding a nodachi.

"I can't believe I made such a foolish mistake. No matter even with your armor you are still no match for me." declared Suzaku. Naruto didn't respond, instead he sheathed his blade behind his back, before suddenly vanishing from view. A Suzaku scanned around Naruto appeared in front of him landing a punch to the solar plexus to fast for Suzaku to block. As the demon staggered backwards Naruto moved behind him and swept his feet out from beneath him, before reappearing in front him and kicking him straight up in the air. As Suzaku flew up Naruto reappeared above him upside down and nailed him with a vertical kick across the back sending him crashing into the ground. As Naruto landed he observed Suzaku struggling to reach his feet.

"The true power of your armor is quite terrifying. It's lightning nature has you're speed up your reflexes and given you a tremendous boost in raw speed. As I am now, I would not be able to keep up with you over the long haul. However I have just the technique for this." Suzaku suddenly crouched with his left leg angled backwards. He held his hands clasped with his index fingers outstretched and touching together in front of his face. Red energy flickered into existence at the tip of his fingers before engulfing his whole body. The blond haired demon chuckled as his body split into seven.

"Can you guess.." started the one center.

"..which one of us..." continued the on of the far left.

"..is the real Suzaku?" finished the one to the right of center.

"We all are!" chorused the seven Suzaku's as they continued to laugh.

**"Black Secret Technique: The Prism of Seven!"**

"Unlike your pathetic technique we are not copies or shadows. Each Suzaku possess it's own free will, which makes for a rather destructive combination of attacks."

_'Well this sucks, if I drop the armor I can use shadow clones to combat the superior numbers, but run the risk of getting hit by his lightning attacks. I'll have to wait for him to expose the weakness in this technique.'_ thought Naruto as he unsheathed his blade.

Using his superior speed Naruto rushed the seven Suzakus, slicing and dicing with his blade as it crackled with lightning. While outnumbered, he was still stronger and faster than each individual Suzaku and managed to deal some vicious wounds to his enemies, downing five of the them before he was knocked back by the last two. As he looked back to appreciate his handiwork he noticed that he managed to badly wound the original, by the way it kept bitching about it's injuries.

"Damn you! I don't know how managed to find me let alone inflict so much damage. However, it doesn't matter in the long run." Suddenly the copies all dissolved into energy and returned to his body healing the wounds.

**"Prism of Seven Restoration!"**

He then reformed the prism of seven all over again.

"Another great aspect of this technique, I can use the energy of my copies to heal myself before reforming them all over again. Do you now understand the direness of your situation?" taunted Suzaku.

"Yeah, I'll just have kill all seven of you." retorted Naruto.

"Not if we destroy you first!" chorused all seven as they jumped into the air preparing storm of torment attacks.

**"Prism Storm of Torment!"**

All seven Suzaku's fired their lighitning attacks likes arrows at Naruto who to their shock brought his blade in front and using it to absorbed all their attacks. Immediately his armor crckled with lightning from all the power absorbed from the attacks.

"I should thank you. If you never released an attack with so much magical energy I could never have channeled enough power to activate my most devastating attack in this armor. Since most of my magic power goes into maintaining my speed in this armor, I need some outside help to do this! **Thunder Bolt Cut!**" A slash-like blast of lightning shot from Naruto's blade before splitting into seven, each nailed a Suzaku in the chest.

"You may have had S-class power, but your nothing more than a one-trick pony." The Suzaku copies vanished, leaving the original dead Suzaku collasped on the ground. Naruto's armor soon dissipated as he marched across the room to where the safe was. He formed a rasengan and got to work on opening it.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The Duke stared in front of him in shock, unable to comprehend what just happened.

"Well, sorry Duke, but it looks likes this is the end of your games."

"Yes, we can't afford to associate with someone so far in the red."

"That's the least of his problems, with the ledger gone his clients will be looking to eliminate the leak." commented the third gambler before he and the first three vanished.

"I'll expect my funds by tomorrow morning. The winning you got from the others should provide you enough to go into hiding. Good luck!" advised Akira before he vanished as well.

The Duke just continued to stare in front of him in disbelief, before he fainted. A Naruto clone ducked into the room and grabbed him before returning from where it came.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Oi! What took you guys so long? I got the ledger." complained Elfman as he saw Gray, Happy and Natsu approaching the front gate.

"The stupid safe! It was full of women's underwear!" complained Gray, who had a few panties leaking out of his pockets.

"Sucks for you! We got cheese whiz and fish!" gloated Natsu with a mouth full of cheese.

"Aye! Good fish!" exclaimed Happy as he bit into a fish. Suddenly a window above them busted open as Naruto and pair clones leaped out, all carrying rucksacks filled to the brim.

"Haul Ass! My clones clogged all the drains on the decked this place with water spray tags!" he yelled as he hopped over the gate.

"Your still doing that wet bandit gag!" yelled Gray in disbelief as they took of after him. Rumor had it Naruto nearly flooded three towns when he tried this before.

"It's a classic!" replied the real Naruto as he formed a hand-sign once they got far enough away, soon after a loud explosion could be heard.

"Oops...Sorry, Boss I guess those were explosive tags." stated a Naruto clone with sheepish grin.

"Dammit! Well at least we cleared the building." commented the original.

"You are so taking the fall for this one." stated Elfman.

"Doesn't matter, the council loves me!" replied Naruto with devilish grin.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Kyuubi and Lucy had just left the home of their client (the book was revealed to be Dear Kaby same way as in the manga), when she suddenly paused as if sensing the mansion explode.

"Something tells me Naruto needs to be punished.. and not in a good way..." grumbled Kyuubi.

"What was that?" questioned Lucy.

"Nothing, nothing..." she replied.

"I can't believe you turned down 2 million jewels." whined Lucy.

"Don't worry, we're going to get paid. Naruto looted the Duke of Everlue's mansion on his way out. Kirby Melon just inherited 4 million from the Duke for services rendered by his father. We get our cut from that." replied Kyuubi.

"Won't we get in trouble for robbing him?" questioned Lucy.

"I'm sure he's got bigger problems to worry about than reporting a robbery." retorted a laughing Kyuubi.

Currently said Duke was strung up on a flagpole by his underwear in the center of town.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Back at the home of one Akira Rose he stepped away from his chair before becoming enveloped in a swirl of sparkling light and revealing himself to be Mirajane.

"So what do you think?" she asked her sister who was seated at on office desk to the left of her.

"Tsuna is the butler for a corrupt nobleman, and Annalise is the assassin-maid sent to do him in. She turns him to her side after discovering that he is actually the illegitimate son of the nobleman and true heir to his fortune. This is fantastic material, all I need is a few details..." she trailed off giving Mirajane a pointed look.

"I was talking about the money! And why don't you use your own sex life for material!" she yelled at her little sister.

"The second book didn't sell as well as the others."

"I'm sure Natsu's gotten much better since then."

"That's not the point, besides I could always get it from Cana..."

"Fine, same deal as last time."

"What do you do with all those East Port pineapple slices and strawberry jam anyway?" questioned Lisanna.

Mirajane suddenly gained a fierce blush and hungry look in her eye, "Well you slip the pineapple slices right over..."

* * *

A/N: Phew the chapter was really long. Well, for me at least. I'll cut back to around the 6-7000 range for the next few so the updates are quicker.


	5. Magic Flute, Make My Monster Grow!

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything**

* * *

**Magic Flute, Make My Monster Grow!  
**

Lucy formed the most intimidating glare she could muster as she attempted to stare down Naruto. Her fellow blond merely ignored her as he continued to scribble away on the scroll on the table in front of him. They were seated in a table across from the bar, a sheathed blade occupying the other empty seat. After he continued to ignore her for the next several minutes she exploded.

"GIVE IT TO ME!" demanded Lucy.

"I told you I'm going not to give it away for free. Not without a good reason anyway." replied Naruto not even looking up from his writing.

"But you can't even use it!" whined Lucy.

Naruto shrugged, "I own tons of stuff I can't use."

"Hmph! What are you working on anyway?" she asked with feigned interest.

"Well, this is a very complex plan...but it boils down to making my clones more durable so I can mimic the prism of seven technique." answered Naruto.

She now gave him a blank look, "Prism of seven?"

"It was a technique used by the guy I fought on the Duke of Everlue job." he replied.

This brought Lucy right back to the point of contention she had with Naruto. In the loot from that job there was a rather rare gate key he found, however he wouldn't give it to her. He'd sell it to her, but only at an astronomical price. Nothing she tried would get him to part with the key. She started to ponder a different approach, _'Perhaps Kyuubi might have some ideas...'_

At this moment another redheaded girl was walking through the guild barking out orders.

"I heard you guys have been causing trouble again. The master may forgive you, but I won't." she declared.

"Who is she?" stammered Lucy, startled by her intimidating presence.

"That's Erza. She's really strong." answered Happy who had walked up next to her.

Erza turned her eyes to Cana, "Cana that is inappropriate drinking posture!"

"Ugh..." grunted Cana as she quickly shifted her position.

Erza moved forward setting her sights on another pair of offenders, "Visitor if you are going to dance, do it outside. Wakaba your cigarette butts are all over the floor."

She then turned towards the request board, "Nav... are you still hanging around the board? Pick a job already." Erza sighed and tossed back her hair, "You guys give me so much trouble, but I won't say anything for today."

_'You've already said a lot!'_ thought Lucy. "What is she the disciplinary enforcer or something?"

"No she's Erza." replied Happy as if it explained everything.

"Excuse me for second." Naruto stood up grabbing the blade from the empty chair. Lucy watched as he marched right across the room to Erza and stopped a few feet in front of her giving her a glare, which she returned back full force and stuck out her hand.

"Does he have a death wish or something!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Well, pretty much every fears her except for one person." responded Happy.

"Who?" inquired Lucy.

"Who else?" replied Happy nodding towards Naruto.

She then noticed that the entire guild had become silent, all the attention focused on the stare down between the armored redhead and the blond. Naruto suddenly placed the sheathed blade into Erza's outstretched hand. Without looking away from him she unsheathed the blade and ran her finger up and down it's edge. Erza brought the blade up and sliced down only to be blocked by Naruto's finger. She pulled back only to unleash a volley of strikes with the sword at speeds that were difficult to follow. The more amazing part was that Naruto continued to block every single one with his finger.

"Wow look at them go!" exclaimed Happy. Erza suddenly stopped and sheathed the blade before strapping it to her belt.

"It's over? I wanted to see more." whined Natsu who had walked up behind them.

"No wait," said Happy when Naruto suddenly put his hand in his pocket, "Okay, Naruto put his finger away. Now it's over."

Lucy nearly face vaulted. Naruto quickly moved close to Erza giving the girl a hug and whispering something into her ear that caused a faint blush to appear on her cheeks.

"Wait, I have something to take care of first." she whispered to him before shifting in his embrace so that his arm was around her as she looked around the guild. "Where are Natsu and Gray?"

"Over here!" responded Happy directing her attention to the duo.

"Traitor!" the both yelled before wrapping an arm around each others backs and plastering on a pair of fake smiles. "H-Hey Erza! We're being good to each other like always!" stammered Gray as sweat poured down his and Natsu's faces.

"Aye." added Natsu in agreement.

"Natsu became like Happy!" screamed Lucy is shock.

She heard a giggle from behind her and turned to see Lisanna at the bar, "It's pretty funny huh? Natsu and Gray are afraid of Erza."

"Why?" asked Lucy.

"Natsu picked a fight with Erza and got beaten up." answered Lisanna.

"No way!" exclaimed Lucy.

"She caught Gray walking around naked and beat him up too." continued Lisanna.

"Well that makes some sense..." replied Lucy.

"Loki hit on her and almost got killed." continued Lisanna.

"Oh my...Wait a minute! Then how did that guy become her boyfriend!" exclaimed Lucy as she pointed at Naruto. "He's as undisciplined as they come."

"Well... he does like to joke around and have fun, but he's a much more complex person than you think." replied Lucy.

Erza gave Natsu and Gray a warm smile, "I'm glad to see you guys are doing great. I actually have a favor to ask the both of you. I heard something troubling on my last job, usually I would consult the master first but since he's out right now I'm going on ahead with what I think is best. I need your help, you'll come with me right?"

"What about me?" complained a pouting Naruto.

"You were already coming, you don't have a choice." she replied with a smirk.

"Somehow, I don't find that offensive." he said while shrugging.

"We'll leave tomorrow, so prepare yourselves. I'll inform you of the details en-route." she stated as she and Naruto turned to leave.

"Ah...eh..wai..." stammered Gray unable form a coherent thought.

"I never said I'd come!" growled Natsu, but his complaint was ignored.

"Those four together all on the same team? I never imagined it, but that could possibly be the strongest team in fairy tail!" observed Lisanna.

"Eh?" questioned Lucy not quite realizing the prowess of her new friends and acquaintances.

"Hey Lucy could you do me a favor? Could you tag along with them?" asked Lisanna.

"Me? What could I do?" replied Lucy.

"Well the group might be a volatile mix, and it would be good to have a mediator. Plus I'm sure the situation could present itself for Naruto to give you that key you want so much..." she trailed off.

"So where are they leaving from?" asked Lucy.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It was almost a typical morning at the Magnolia town train station. Passengers and trains moved in and out to reach their various destinations. It was almost a typical morning because a couple of teenagers were nearly about to start an all out brawl in the middle of the station.

"Why the hell did that monster Erza need our help!" growled Natsu.

"How should I know. Besides if she needed help, I alone would be sufficient." retorted Gray.

"You two are idiots, if she only needed a little help she wouldn't have dragged Naruto along too." grumbled Lucy.

Her observation went ignored. "Well you can just go by yourself! I don't want to go!" yelled Natsu.

"Fine! Don't Come! Erza can just kill you afterward!" retorted Gray as the two started throwing punches, knocking over a fruit stand in the process.

"You two idiots are just looking for an excuse to fight so shut up!" bellowed Lucy bringing a halt to their dust up. "Geez! Why can't you two just get along."

The two stopped fighting and gave Lucy a pair of blank looks."Why are you here anyway?" asked Natsu.

Lucy turned away from them not daring to look them in the eye, "I was asked to come! My skills might really come in handy..."

"You were bribed again weren't you?" deadpanned Natsu.

"I'll have you know..." she began again with an indignant tone before a devious grin formed on her face. " Oh Erza-san! Over here!" she called out while waving to no one in particular.

"We're best friends! We like to hang out together!" cried out Gray and Natsu in unison while hugging each other with a look of panic on their faces. Lucy doubled over in laughter at the sight of them.

"You tricked us!" the duo exclaimed.

"Maybe you guys really do get along after all." said Lucy between giggles.

"No way! Why the hell does she have to come along! Ahh.. my stomach is starting to hurt." grumbled Gray.

"Want some fish?" asked Happy.

"NO!" yelled Gray.

"Why are you here again?" Natsu asked Lucy with a blank look.

"Where you not listening at all!" shrieked Lucy. "I swear! You-" she was cut off by the arrival of Erza.

"Sorry did I make you wait?" asked the redhead.

"Too much luggage!" stammered Lucy as her jaw dropped at the mountain of luggage Erza was lugging behind her.

"Did you run out of sealing scrolls again?" questioned Naruto as he strolled up shaking his head at the sight.

"Maybe..." replied Erza with a small blush.

"And people call me irresponsible..." grumbled Naruto as he got to work on storing her luggage in one of his spare scrolls.

"Well from what I've seen..." started Lucy only to be cut off by Naruto.

"If you have any desires of getting your hands on that key you won't finish that sentence." Lucy shut up immediately. She then noticed the curious glance Erza was giving her.

"Hrmm? You were in fairy tail yesterday..." said Erza in a questioning tone.

"She's a newbie." replied Naruto as he sealed away another suitcase.

"A total noob!" declared Natsu.

"Aye, the n00biest of n00bs." added Happy.

"Hey! I've been on two missions!" screamed an indignant Lucy. "Ignore them, I'm a new member Lucy." she said before bowing to Erza after her introduction.

"Told you she was a noob." chided Natsu.

"Aye. The n00b queen is what she is." added Happy.

"At one point she was a nude newb." commented Naruto.

"STOP THAT!" shrieked Lucy.

"Hey I only called you a newb, they called you a noob and a n00b." defended Naruto.

Erza chuckled at their antics, "Hi, I'm Erza nice to meet you. You are the one the guild members were talking about yesterday...you defeated that mercenary gorilla on a mission..very promising."

"That's not entirely accurate..." replied a slightly nervous Lucy.

"This mission might be a bit risky, but based on your past performance I think you can handle it." stated Erza ignoring Lucy.

"Risky!" exclaimed Lucy in panic. _'What the hell have I gotten myself into!'_

"Hmph! I don't know what the task is this time, but I'll go on one condition. You must compete with me in a challenge!" declared Natsu.

"Not again..." moaned Gray.

"Huh?" Lucy was completely lost.

"Natsu likes to challenge strong members of the guild to random contests. His current record against Erza and Naruto is 147 Losses and 3 Wins." informed Happy.

"And that's only because Erza let him win those three times so she could do something important." added Naruto.

"I'm not the same as I used to be! I've gotten stronger and my luck has turned around!" declared a confident Natsu.

"Okay." agreed Erza.

"Okay?" stammered the rest of the group in surprise of her acceptance.

"I can tell you've become strong, it's only fair that you have the opportunity to prove it. We'll have a spar." replied Erza.

"Deal!" roared a pumped up Natsu.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

As the five mages and one talking cat road comfortably on the train, Gray shook his hand as he glanced towards the sleeping form of Natsu, "You're so hopeless Natsu."

"Well, it is an improvement over him moaning and groaning the whole way there." commented Happy.

"It's still pathetic that he can't handle a train ride without sleeping pills." stated Gray.

"More pathetic that not being able to finish a mission with your pants on?" questioned Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

"Aye, it's a brilliant piece of magic how you make your clothes disappear." added Happy. Somehow mid snore Natsu raised his hand up and gave the blue cat a high five causing everyone to snicker at Gray's expense.

"That reminds me, I haven't seen to much magic from other mages since I've joined. What kind of magic do you do Erza-san?" inquired Lucy.

"You can just call me Erza." corrected Erza.

"Erza's magic is beautiful!" exclaimed Happy. "Plenty of blood comes out at the end, her opponents blood."

"How is that beautiful?" questioned a groaning Lucy with a huge sweat drop.

"It's nothing special...I think Gray's magic is more beautiful." commented Erza.

"It is?" asked Lucy as she turned towards Gray.

"Hmph!" Gray slammed his fist against his palm as he channeled his ice magic to create the Fairy Tail symbol. "It's ice magic."

"WAH! Cool!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Ice doesn't really suit you though." joked Erza.

"Who cares?" grumbled Gray turning away from her.

"Ice..." murmured Lucy as she looked at Gray before turning to Natsu. "Flame...AH! No wonder you guys don't get along. You're so straightforward and cute!"

"Is that so?" Erza quirked an eyebrow and let out an amused chuckle.

"Who cares about that..." grumbled Gray.

"We need to get ready Erza, you usually don't put together big teams like this. What's going on?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah, let me explain. I was on my way back from my last job when I stopped at a bar in Onibas. Mages usually gather there and some folks caught my attention. They were talking about something called Lullaby and how they were trying to unseal it." stated Erza.

"Lullaby? Could that be some magic that puts people to sleep?" questioned Lucy.

"I don't know, but it must be powerful since it's sealed." replied Erza.

"So some folks wanted to break the seal on some unknown magic. Maybe that's all it was..their job, nothing special." stated Gray.

"Yes, that's what I first thought as well..until I remembered they mentioned the name Erigor. The ace of mage guild Eisenwald, Shinigami Erigor." countered Erza.

"Shinigami!" exclaimed Lucy in panic.

"It's a nickname he earned from taking up assassination requests. The council prevents guilds from taking assassination requests, but Eisenwald chose money. So then six years ago the guild was ousted from the mage guild league and categorized as a dark guild." informed Naruto.

Lucy broke out in a nervous sweat, "Dark Guild?"

"Lucy, your skin is producing juice!" exclaimed Happy.

"It's sweat!" she corrected.

"I see." muttered a more reserved Gray.

"Wait you say ousted, but didn't they get punished?" questioned Lucy.

"They were. Eisenwald's master was arrested and the rest of the guild ordered to shutdown." explained Erza.

Naruto snorted at the ridiculousness of the order, "Like that was really going to stop them. Most dark guilds keep functioning regardless of the order to shutdown."

"Maybe I should sit this one out..." commented a panicking Lucy.

"Turning back again?" questioned Happy.

Erza let out sigh, "It was a blunder on my part...if only I had remembered the name Erigor back at the bar..."

Naruto waved off her concern with a grin, "Don't worry about it. Besides it wouldn't be fair if you hogged all the fun for yourself."

"Yeah if it was just those guys at the bar, then you could have handled it, but you did right thing if we're going after an entire guild." added Gray.

"You made the right call, we can't overlook this situation." The cheeky grin on Naruto's face morphed into an insane one. "We're marching into Eisenwald!"

"Sounds interesting." casually stated Gray with a smirk.

"I shouldn't have come. This is way over my head." grumbled Lucy as she continued to sweat.

"You're producing too much juice." warned Happy.

"Stop calling it juice!" retorted Lucy.

By now the traveling party had departed the train at their stop and were making their way into town.

Erza suddenly halted and stared down Naruto with a suspicious eye, "You're a clone. Where's the real you?"

"What are you talking about I'm not a-" he was cut off as a quick punch from Erza dispelled him.

"Natsu's not here either!" yelled Happy.

"INCOMING!" Gray only had a moment to turn before Natsu crashed into him, somehow landing in perfect standing position on top of Gray's back.

"Get off me!" yelled Gray prompting Natsu to walk off of him, but not before stepping on the back of his head first.

"Where's Naruto?" demanded Erza.

Natsu suddenly wrapped his scarf around his face and put his hands together as if making a fake hand sign, "He's on a ninja mission - de gozaru!"

"Our stealthy leader has returned - nin nin!" added Happy performing the same antics.

"Cut that out!" yelled Lucy attempting to bash Natsu over the head.

"Combat flows like water - de gozaru!" chanted Natsu as he gracefully avoided the blow.

"Move like a butterfly and sting like when an old man pees - nin nin!" added Happy.

"And we've lost them..." grumbled Lucy as she shook her head at the two.

"Ninja Mission?" questioned Gray.

"He found a lead..." murmured Erza deep in thought.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Kageyama checked his pack to make sure the package was secured before looking up and whistling as he made his way through the mostly empty train. As he moved to where he saw the group of Fairy Tail mages seated earlier he spotted an odd man with gravity defying silver hair reading an orange book now in their place. The man wore strange headband that slanted over his left eye and dark colored face mask that covered everything on his except for his right eye.

"Sir is this seat taken?" asked Kageyama as he put his hand on the back of the empty seat.

The man made no reply, only flipping the page in his orange book. Kageyama took this as an invitation to join.

"Quite an interesting read you got there..." began Kageyama trying to start a conversation only for the man to merely flip another page and continuing reading.

"Not much of talker? That's fine. I got enough chatter from the mages that just left the train. I think they were in Fairy Tail, a regular guild. You're definitely some kind of mage, you in a guild?" asked Kageyama.

The man merely tapped the spiral leaf insignia on his forehead protector.

"Don't recognize it? Mercenary Guild?" questioned Kageyama.

The man shrugged in response before flipping another page.

"Yeah I get ya, not as big time as the main mage guilds, but you gotta start somewhere right?" said Kageyama amicably. "I envy those guys from Fairy Tail. I hear that the famous model Mirajane is a member of their guild, always looking so pretty in those magazines. I heard they got another cute girl to join their guild recently too. My guild doesn't have any girls. I bet an obscure guild like yours doesn't have too many cute girls either. I wish they would share..."

He turned back to the man as he suddenly flipped through pages as if searching for something before stopping and jamming the open section in Kageyama's face.

"Your telling me in these books, one of the girls is based on of Mirajane..." blurted Kageyama as he drooled at the illustrated picture. He grabbed the book for himself and flipped through a few more sections. "Hey you mind if I borrow..." Kageyama trailed off as he looked up to find the odd silver haired man gone. "Hmm...must have went to the bathroom...shit soon I'll need to make a trip as well..."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Why are we traveling again..." groaned Natsu as he squirmed in his seat trying to hold his lunch down. The four mages and cat were currently trying to catch the train using a magical four wheeled vehicle they procured at the Onibas station.

"Because the only lead we have is still on the train dumbass." replied Gray.

"We don't even know if it's a real lead." whined Lucy.

"It's a real lead otherwise Naruto wouldn't have gone undercover. The clone he sent was to throw off who ever became alerted to our presence." stated Erza as she pushed the petal to the metal.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

At the Kunigi Train station passengers and conductors fled from the train and station in fear.

"Get everyone off the train. Eisenwald is taking over!" ordered Erigor. After clearing out the both the train and the station, Erigor went to the main car to make himself comfortable. There he found Kageyama entranced by some orange book.

"Ah, Kageyama! Just the man I was looking for." stated Erigor as he slipped into the seat across from him.

"I managed to break the seal! This is it." said Kageyama as he put down the book and handed over a skull headed flute.

"Finally...This is the forbidden magic lullaby!" exclaimed Erigor gaining the attention of the other Eisenwald mages.

"Oh Yeah!"

"Good Job Kage-chan!"

"Yeah now the plan is complete."

"This used to be nothing more than a "murder by curse" tool until the dark mage Zeref got his hands on it. He developed it into a magical flute...such a terrible thing..."mass-murder curse magic" lullaby...It puts of death curse on everyone who hears its melody!" proclaimed Erigor as his fellow guild members roared in approval.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Are you alright?" Lucy asked Erza as she noticed the beads of sweat pouring down the girls face and the slight increase in her breathing.

"Yeah just a little tired. Powering this vehicle consumes magical energy, but I'll be fine once we stop." the redhead replied.

"Good we're almost at the train-" Lucy was cut off as kunai flashed right by her face stabbing into the face of the vehicle at an angle.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" shrieked the blond girl.

"It's a message from Naruto-kun..." said Erza as she pulled the piece of paper from the ring of the kunai.

"CAN'T HE SEND A MESSAGE WITHOUT NEARLY KILLING ME IN THE PROCESS!" roared Lucy in outrage.

"He asked if you could do a real mission without wanting to retreat every five minutes?" replied Erza with a smirk as she brought the car to a stop.

"Why are we stopping?" asked the irritated blond.

"Naruto is solidifying his cover." replied Erza vaguely.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"What is that trash?" questioned Karacka as he peered over Kageyama's shoulder, taking a look at the orange book that seemed to suck the shadow mage in.

"It's not trash! Take a look!" Kageyama thrust the book in his face.

"Not bad...what's it called Icha Icha? Where did you find this?" asked Karacka as a blush formed on his face.

"Some silver haired merc gave it to me. Got off the train before the last exit. A bit quiet, but a decent guy." replied Kageyama casually.

"What the heck is that stuck to the back of the book?" questioned Byard as he pointed to the rectangular patch that seemed to be stuck on the book like a sticker.

Rayule peeled the tag off the back and inspecting it, "That's odd..."

"Shit there's more!" yelled Byard as he pointed out several more of the rectangular patches on the walls of the train car.

"Rayule put it down!" ordered Erigor. The mage placed the patch down on the table in front of him and backed away. Using his wind magic, Erigor lifted all the tags in the car into the air before floating them out the window. Moments later they all exploded after the train had just cleared the blast zone.

"Good eye as always Byard." commented Erigor.

"Just doin my job boss." replied Byard with a nod.

"Kageyama, who else was on the train before you got that book..." began Erigor.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Did he really nearly have to blow up the train to solidify his cover?" as she stared at the explosion a short distance in front of them gobsmacked.

Erza merely gave her a deadpan look that said, 'You're lucky he didn't actually blow up the train.'

"It was a rhetorical question." Lucy stated defensively. "What now?"

"We wait for a few minutes before continuing on." replied Erza.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Much further down the road, at the secret location of the Masters meeting, Makarov and his buddies were really cutting loose.

"Makarov-chan it must be lovely to have such lively mages!" commented a husky bald man with a five o'clock shadow. Said man was also sporting a maroon blouse with fairy wings and wore makeup and earrings. He was the master of the blue Pegasus guild, appropriately named Bob.

"The council is still reeling from the representative you sent in your place because you were 'sick' last time." he continued.

"It's one thing to be lively, but that boy...you couldn't possibly be considering him as a legitimate successor down the road?" questioned Goldmine, the master of mage guild Quatro Cerberus.

"Hah! He's truly my successor in the art of wooing the ladies. He's got four of the foxiest vixens in the guild eating out of the palm of his hand. He's already moving in on our sexy new recruit to make it five! I taught him everything he knows!" gloated a giggling Makarov as he took another swing of alcohol.

"Oh really ero-master?" Makarov turned to see Naruto standing right behind him.

"Naruto! There's my boy!" bellowed Makarov as he downed another shot.

"So this is a meeting between the masters? An excuse for all you fools to sit around and get drunk!" yelled an indignant Naruto.

"No a time to rewind from all the paperwork that council shells out because of brats like you!" retorted Makarov as the fellow masters roared in agreement.

"The boss decided you should be informed of the situation..." The Naruto clone proceeded to inform Makarov of the situation, including where the true target for lullaby was before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Makarov stared at the wall in front him blankly before falling of the table to the floor in shock.

"That news was not that troubling Makarov. Perhaps you've had to much too drink." stated Goldmine.

Makarov looked at him like he was insane, "Those Eisenwald fools are nothing but pipsqueaks. Do you have any idea what kind of trouble Naruto, Natsu, Gray and Erza could cause! The could destroy an entire town! The meeting ends today so I might be able to contain this..."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Ahh! The horror! The youth! Ahhh!" shrieked a skinny brown haired man as he ran out of the deserted Oshibana train station. When the team sans Naruto arrived at the town, the place was a complete ghost town, minus the few people still fleeing like the man they just passed. All looked like they'd seen the shinigami himself. After making their way into the station, they scrambled up to the main platform to come face to face with Eisenwald.

"What took you so long Fairy Tail?" questioned a smirking Erigor as his men chuckled in the background.

"Where did they get all these guys?" questioned a nervous Lucy.

"I've got schedule to keep, only you flies are delaying it." mocked Erigor eliciting more snickers from the Eisenwald mages.

"Erigor." stated Erza calmly as she leveled a stare at the leader.

"That's the girl from the bar. She's wearing the same armor again." commented a dark haired Eisenwald mage..

"So it was you who leaked out our plan..." whispered another.

Lucy unwrapped Natsu from around her shoulder and starting shaking the mage furiously, "Come on Dragon boy! Wake up! It's time to work!"

"You flies...it's all because of you..." grumbled Kageyama.

"Settle down Kage-chan." reassured Rayule as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"That voice..." gurgled Natsu as he started to regain consciousness.

"What are you planning?" demanded Erza as she flared killing intent. "Answer carefully, it may save your soul."

"We're just fooling around, having a good time. Since we've got no jobs we're bored." replied Erigor casually. The Eisenwald mages couldn't hold a straight face and all immediately burst into laughter. Utilizing his wind magic Erigor floated up in the air from the top of the train to a window ledge high up in the station.

"Don't you flies get it? What's in a train station?" hinted Erigor.

The killing intent Erza was emitting nearly tripled in force. "You're going to broadcast-" she was cut off by Byard.

"Boss? I thought we weren't wasting time with this small time shit! We're supposed to get wild and go after those masters that shut us down!" exclaimed Byard.

"You fool! You just gave away the whole plan!" bellowed Kageyama as he smacked the cloaked Mage in the back of the head.

"Why are my men such idiots?" complained Erigor as he smacked his forehead.

"Because these aren't all your men." whispered Erza, but Erigor overheard.

"What was that?" bellowed an outraged Erigor.

"The lady said we aren't all your men. Some of us are her men." retorted Byard before he vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Technically man would be more correct." an ominous voice spoke out through the speakers of the train station announcing system.

"Who are you! Come out and face us!" demanded Kageyama.

"Very well then..." the voice responded. Suddenly purple smoke filled the area, "I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the guy who takes way too long to order in front of you at the drive-thru! I am..."

"A 90's themed reject superhero!" yelled Gray.

"Denny Crane!" yelled Happy.

"So not getting any tonight if you keep this up..." grumbled Erza as she tapped her foot impatiently.

"Denny Crane!" yelled Happy again.

"Rick James! Bitch!" yelled Rayule as he slapped the hell out of the guy next to him.

"A delivery boy?" questioned Karacka with a bit of hope in his voice. everybody turned and stared at the guy as if he was insane. "What? I'm hungry!" he defended.

"Denny-" started Happy only to be cut off by Lucy.

"Yelling the same thing over and over won't make it right." deadpanned Lucy. The cat frowned as he scratched his for moment before the proverbial ight bulb went off.

"Priceline Negotiator!" yelled Happy causing Lucy to sweat drop.

"Bingo Mr. Kitty! Where there's bad travel deals, I'll be there!" declared the Negotiator as he emerged from the lingering smoke. Lucy just looked from Happy back to the negotiator in shock.

"How..." stammered the blond.

The negotiator took a leap somersaulting in mid air before landing on a ledge next to Erigor,"Prices so bad you had to hijack a train? Priceline will heal your pain! Hotel expenses higher that fine wine? Priceline will cut it, to under $99.99!"

"I have no time for flies!" roared an annoyed Erigor as he swung his arm sending a blast of wind at the negotiator. To his surprise the man vanished in a puff of smoke and reappeared on the other side of him holding the lullaby flute.

"Interesting flute! Should be a fine addition to my rare collection!" the Negotiator turned to leap away with his prize but a blast of wind knocked it from his hands into the waiting arms of Kageyama.

The negotiator landed on his feet smoothly before turning back to face Erigor. "So you want to play that way, huh? Fine. Then let's get dangerous!" The negotiator snapped his fingers and suddenly over half of the Eisenwald's forces transformed into clones of Naruto.

"My men!" roared at outrage Erigor.

"You didn't really think blowing up the train was the real trap did you? That was merely a diversion so I could replace more than half of your men." replied the negotiator as he transformed into the original Naruto.

"DAMN FLIES!" bellowed Erigor before calming himself down. "Our plans will not be deterred. Kageyama you're with me! The rest of you, don't let them leave here alive!"

Erigor hovered in midair for a moment before taking off through a window, shattering it as he escaped. Kageyama gave a devious grin before sinking into his own shadow.

"Now that we know their real target, we should split up from here. This is how we'll-" Erza was cut off by Naruto.

"We'll handle the pursuit! Natsu! Happy! Stealth mode!" suddenly the trio plus all of Naruto clones dropped a bunch of smoke bombs. When the cloud of smoke finally cleared seconds later they were all gone.

"Wow, they really are stealthy!" exclaimed Lucy. A loud crash was suddenly heard in the hall exiting the train station.

"OWW! Dammit Naruto! That was my toe!" yelled Natsu.

"You kneed me in the sack you bastard!" yelled Naruto right back.

"Or not..." said Lucy as everyone sweat-dropped.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"What the hell is this! We're stuck in a tornado!" shouted Naruto in exasperation.

"Hmm? A fly made it outside? Oh it's the Salamander and the Shogun. I guess I should be honored by such troublesome flies." mocked Erigor with a smirk as he hovered outside the wind wall.

"Erigor!" roared Natsu as steam rose from his body.

"For a guy who does nothing but runaway you sure do like to run your mouth." mocked Naruto. "Why don't you hang around, I'm sure Natsu is itching the burn you black like charcoal."

"I'd love to stick around, but unfortunately I've got a schedule to keep. Too bad for you this magic wind only goes one way, outside to in, trying to escape will slice your body to pieces." stated Erigor.

"Do you really think you can pull this off? You're a fool!" yelled Natsu.

"I've wasted too much time here, now if you'll excuse me..." Erigor shot off across the sky leaving a gust of wind in his wake.

"How are we going to get through this thing?" questioned Natsu.

"I'll make a hole and we'll jet right out of here. You guys watch my six." stated Naruto.

"Aye, sir!" saluted Happy.

_**"Armor of the Strata! Dao Chi!"**_ chanted Naruto as a dark blue light engulfed his body. Piece by Piece the blue armor of the Strata formed around his extremities and torso before the head piece appeared in his hand and he slid it over his head. Happy spread his wings as he grabbed onto Natsu and flew up into the air. The duo watched as Naruto crouched down and the winds swirled around him violently as he slowly levitated into the air.

"I hope you guys can keep up! Follow me!" yelled Naruto as he shot off like a rocket through the barrier creating a hole for the cat-dragon slayer duo to follow through in his wake. Quickly after they escaped the hole closed back up.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Lucy didn't know which mistake was bigger, the Eisenwald mages looking down on Erza because she's a girl or them insulting Fairy Tail. Either way they never really stood a chance. They first sent out a wave of swordsmages who Erza cut down quickly with her own superior artistry of the blade. They then attempted to blast her with ranged magic, only for Erza to put on a clinic as she started ex-quiping her weapons so fast they could barely see them as she sliced and diced. Spear, dual blades, axe, hammer, lance, the Eisenwald mages fell to each one.

"This is taking too long, I'll finish you all at once." she declared as bright lights swirled around her body as she requipped her Heavens Wheel Armor.

Lucy marveled at the sight of her, "Wow...so beautiful!"

"Dance, my blades!" Erza commanded as the swords started to orbit around her. **"Circle Sword!" **The Eisenwald mages were no match for the attack, each of them defeated by one blow from a sword.

"Thi...This is the Titannia!" stammered Karacka in fear. "The strongest woman in Fairy Tail." He turned to make a run for it only to be struck down by the unconscious flying body of his comrade Rayule. Gray landed on top of both of them, having easily defeated the other high ranked Eisenwald member.

"Now what?" asked Gray.

Erza released her Heavens Wheel Armor, showing some sings of fatigue,_ 'Driving that four wheeled vehicle affected me more than I thought. The rest will be up to you guys.'_

"We should head after Natsu, Naruto, and Happy." stated Lucy.

"You're right, the next town ahead is the location of the old geezers meeting. We should get a move on." said Gray.

As the trio made their way outside they confronted the Wind wall that Erigor had erected earlier. After quickly finding it impossible to pass through, an annoyed Gray dragged an barely conscious Karacka outside and held him up against the wall by his throat.

"Yo fatty! How do we get through the wall!" he demanded.

Erza rudely shoved Gray out the way, "You've still got a lot to learn. This is how you interrogate someone." She summoned forth a blade and held it against Karacka's throat, "I want that wind magic nullified immediately. _**You'll get a cut every time you say no.**_"

Karacka simply passed out from the overdose on killing intent.

"Yeah great work." commented Gray, his voice laced with sarcasm. As Gray and Erza started bickering, well more like Erza yelling at Gray for being incompetent, Lucy wracked her brain for a solution. She pulled out her gate keys flipping through them, trying to think if one could provide a way out.

"I can't think of anything...huh what's this?" she found a note wrapped around one of her keys and then recognized it as the key she was trying barter from Naruto.

"But how? When?" she muttered while unfolding the note.

_Lucy,_

_At the most opportune time you will probably find this  
and actually be able do something useful. People will forget about  
your incompetence during the rest of the mission,  
so now I own you! MWAHAHAHA!  
_

_Congrats,_

_Naruto_

"That cheeky bastard..." she grumbled. "Alright Virgo let's see what you can do..."

X-X-X-X-X-X

**"TORNADO FIST!"** Erigor turned just in time to catch the tornado covered armored fist of Naruto in the face. The self proclaimed shinigami crashed into to the train tracks where he met the flame covered foot of Natsu that smashed him into a small rock formation.

"What are you doing here?" gasped Erigor as he rose to his feet, wiping some blood off his chin.

"Having some fun of course!" yelled a grinning Natsu.

"That is assuming you wont hand over lullaby willingly." added Naruto as he casually floated in the air with his arms behind his head.

"You guys can't have too much fun! The master is up ahead, and Erza will be following behind soon!" warned Happy as he landed behind Natsu.

"How did you get past my wind wall!" bellowed Erigor.

"Your wind magic is nothing in front my armor. Plus he's a fire element which has and advantage over wind. Facing just one of us you were due for a rough day at the office, together? You're just plain screwed." taunted Naruto.

_'These are indeed bothersome flies.'_ Erigor made a series of hand movements and launched some blasts of wind magic at Naruto and Natsu. "Die!"

Naruto waved his hand and blast passed by them with no effect. "Nice breeze." he commented offhandedly while yawning.

"Impossible!" yelled Erigor.

"I have control over the air, since your attack must travel through the air, I can do whatever I want with it!" gloated Naruto.

"Annoying Flies!" screamed Erigor.

"You should pay more attention." stated Naruto as he pointed down. The wind mage looked down just in time to get nailed in the chest by a punch from a charging Natsu. He dodged by shooting up into the air when Natsu followed with a Salamander's Claw. He tried to counter with his own attack.

**"Storm Bringer!" **Erigor launched the tornado at Natsu expecting him to be enveloped inside.

"That won't work on him you know." Erigor turned to find Natsu standing on the ground behind him with a deadpan expression as he stuck his pinky finger into his ear.

"But how..." mumbled Erigor as he turned to find his attack being sucked in to power the two tornadoes forming around the fists of Naruto.

**"Double Tornado Fist!"** Naruto was on Erigor too quick for him to react, landing a blow with each wind cover fist sending the wind mage crashing into a pile rocks that collapsed on top of him.

"This guy is too easy." complained Natsu.

"Well it's not my fault the shadow guy never showed up for the 2 on 2 match." replied Naruto.

The rock pile on top of Erigor rumbled before exploding as he screamed while emerging with his body now surrounded by an armor of wind.

"Dude, I think he's trying to copy you." commented Natsu.

Naruto snorted at the idea, "Well he's doing a crappy job of it. My armor is much more durable than that."

"YOU DAMN FLIES!" bellowed Erigor.

"What is it with these guys and flies?" questioned Naruto with a fully serious expression.

Natsu shrugged, "They must live by a dump or something."

"Flies make bad bait for fishing." commented Happy.

"Good for catching frogs and toads though." stated Natsu.

"Too true. We should go on another fishing trip soon." declared Naruto.

"YAY!" cheered Happy.

"You will not make a mockery of me! **Storm Shred!**" bellowed Erigor as he unleashed a volley of wind blades. Naruto and Natsu both put on some fancy maneuvers to avoid being sliced in to pieces. Deciding enough was enough Naruto pulled out the armor's special weapon, a hankyu, along with four arrows.

"Natsu heat it up!" commanded the armored mage.

"Oh yeah!" roared the flame mage as he engulfed his entire body in flames.

In quick succession Naruto fired off four arrows, coating each of them with some wind magic so that mini tornadoes formed around them as they shot forward through the air. Half way to Erigor they ignited with a white hot flame courtesy of some fire balls from Natsu. Each projectile burned right throw Erigor's storm mail exploding on impact with his body, stripping him of his armor. Before he could regain his bearings, he was spear tackled by Natsu engulfed in a white hot flame thanks to a wind boost from Naruto.

**"Salamander Sword Horn!"** The attack launched the smoking body of Erigor high into the sky, before dropping and crashing into the train tracks where lullaby dropped from his pocket onto the side of the tracks.

Happy cleared his throat as he tried to imitate a deep baritone voice, " And once again the day is saved! Thanks to-"

"The Mighty Morons!" yelled Gray as he, Erza, and Lucy arrived with a beaten up Karacka in a four wheeled vehicle.

"Like you did anything bastard!" growled Natsu.

"Well he does still have his clothes on." retorted Naruto with a smirk.

"Yeah I do- Hey!" shouted Gray.

"What's with the fat guy?" asked Natsu pointing at Baracka.

"They destroyed all the other four wheeled vehicles, so we had to force him to show us where the Eisenwald get away car was." replied Erza as she unhooked herself from the driver's seat stumbling momentarily from slight fatigue. Naruto immediately rushed over to her aide.

"You didn't have to push the pedal to the metal. We had it under control, you need to stop stressing out so much!" he scolded her.

She waved off his henpecking, "I'll be fine as soon as I catch my breath."

"How cute!" Lucy teased Naruto. His reply was a look that clearly said 'I still own you' which immediately shut her up.

"Now we can rest easy. The masters are safe." said Erza.

"Not for long! Hit it Baracka!" a shout rang out. They all turned as one to see Kageyama emerge from a shadow on the ground and scoop up lullaby before grabbing onto the four wheeled vehicle as Baracka drove past as full speed.

"SUCKERS!" they both shouted as they hauled ass down the tracks.

"Well...shit." stated Gray, summing up everyone's thoughts.

Both Erza and Naruto gave each other a look before nodding and taking of after them. "Last one there gets it!" they both shouted over their shoulders.

"Gets what?" asked a confused Lucy.

"The blame from the master for letting them get away!" shouted Gray, Natsu, and Happy as they chased after them.

"No fair!" shrieked Lucy as she scrambled to try and catch up.

X-X-X-X-X-X

The team arrived at the scene of Makarov talking Kageyama into surrendering.

"I admit my loss." stated Kageyama as he bowed and dropped Lullaby on the ground.

"Typical, you show up after I do all the hard work!" gloated Makarov with a smirk as he spun around and gave them the peace sign.

"Oi! What happened to the fat guy?" asked Naruto.

"Who cares!" shouted Natsu as he tried to steal Makarov's hat.

"Ka Ka Ka...You mages have no guts." a raspy voice spoke out from the flute. They all turned to see dark smoke coming out it. "I can't hold back any longer. I'm going to eat you all myself."

"The flute talked! Happy!" shrieked Lucy as she attempted to hide behind said cat.

"The smoke...is forming a shape!" proclaimed Happy.

"No shit!" yelled Gray.

"Let me consume your pitiful souls!" bellowed the emerging creature as it towered over them several stories high.

"A Monster!" exclaimed Happy, Makarov, Lucy, Natsu and Gray in fear.

Erza was confused, "Wha?"

Naruto knew exactly how to deal with the situation as he thrust his hand into the air, "We need Dinozord power! Now!"

"What the hell is going on! I don't know anything about this!" exclaimed a panicking Kageyama.

"Oh my...this is bad." stated Bob.

"It's the devil from the book of Zeref!" yelled Goldmine.

"I'm starving to death! I'm going to eat your souls!" bellowed the devil.

"WHAAAT!" exclaimed Natsu in shock as he turned to Gray. "Souls are edible? Do they taste good?"

"How should I know!" retorted Gray.

"How did that thing come out of the flute?" asked a puzzled Lucy.

"The devil is the lullaby itself. It's living magic. That's Zeref's magic." answered Goldmine.

"Living Magic..." mumbled Erza.

"Zeref? But that guy is from ancient times!" yelled Gray in disbelief.

"Dark Mage Zeref, the most atrocious mage in the history of magic. Who could have thought that the adverse legacy from several centuries ago could reappear." stated Bob.

"Now..Whose soul should I enjoy first?" pondered Lullaby as it looked around. "I've decided...All of Yours!"

Lucy closed her eyes and ears in panic, but the rest of her comrades jumped into action.

"Yo Ugly! Suck on this!" chanted both Naruto and Natsu as they powered up attacks side by side. Erza dashed forward, ex-quiping her armor along the way, and with two precision cuts, sliced through the ankles of Lullaby. Gray erected a shield to protect everyone watching the battle while the slayer duo went for the kill shot.

**"Arrow Shock Wave!/****Salamander's Roar! Slayer Combination Technique: Phoenix Cannon!"** The two attacks merged to form a phoenix headed blast of white hot fire the flew directly in to the open Mouth Lullaby triggering a massive explosion. When the dust and smoke cleared the head and upper torso of the huge beast were shown to be vaporized by the attack as the rest of its body collapsed into the side of the castle. Some of the masters marveled at the display.

"So what do ya think ladies and gents! Aren't they great!" gloated Makarov.

"Incredible!"

"The power of Fairy Tail! It's unreal!"

"If I hadn't seen myself I wouldn't believe it."

Others were outraged by it.

"The castle! It's in ruins!"

"You fools!"

"Our regular meeting site is dust!"

"Well..." Naruto, who had released his armor, scratched back of his head with a sheepish grin.

Natsu dismissed their concerns entirely, "That place sucked anyway. We did you a favor."

"Yeah!" chimed Happy in agreement.

A look passed between all the masters except Makarov before they all nodded as one, "GET THEM!"

"Wait! It's the wet bandit! He's looting what's left!" Naruto pointed out behind him. They all turned behind them to see a cloaked man emerging from the rubble with a hug knapsack filled to the brim. He stared at them before turning and making a run for it.

"He must have gone in while we were distracted!"

"Get him!"

As the mob of masters took off after the bandit, Makarov wiped some sweat from his brow. "Phew! Lucky that thief was there." commented Makarov as Gray, Lucy, Happy, and Natsu nodded in agreement.

"You fool! That clone won't last for long! Haul ass old man!" yelled Naruto. The group turned back to see Naruto and Erza already way ahead of them.

"Sorry Master! We've disgraced you!" apologized Erza as the duo seemed to hit a second gear and sped out of sight.

A shout of "It's a fake!" had the rest of the group quickly following after.

* * *

DMF- Naruto what's scouter say about the chapter's word count?

Naruto- Uhh... 000.6 wait! It's upside down...Oh Shit! It's over 9000!

Vegeta- No! No! No! No! No! No! your doing it all wrong! It's more like this...IT'S OVER 9000!" (crushes scouter)

Naruto- Actually it was over 9300, and your paying for that scouter. It aint coming out of my ramen fund.

Vegeta (throws arm up in disgust) - Fools the lot of you! (Storms away)

DMF - What the fuck is he doing here? This isn't Ninja of the Kais. Go blast that fool back to his own story.

Naruto (devious grin forms - My pleasure! (Cue evil cackling laughter)

A/N: Alright another long ass update! Well for me at least. Now time to get back to work. Coming up next will an update for **Ninja of the Kais**, followed by **Naruto Uzumaki: The Youkai Files**


	6. The Mage's Court

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything.

* * *

**The Mage's Court**

Even though the resolution of the Eisenwald incident was seemingly smooth, tensions within the Mage Council were high. Up until this point, none of them truly considered the dark guilds as a major threat. There was a sort of unwritten rule followed by the dark guilds, as long as they stayed out of the public eye, the Mage Council would not go after them full bore to shut them down. However, the easy manner in Eisenwald almost succeeded in their terrorist attack forced the higher ups to rethink things. The Mage council called an emergency meeting at their usual site in Era to determine a proper response to the situation, basically finding someone to pin the blame on.

"While it's a good thing that Eisenwald went under, the main problem still has not been solved. There are far to many illegal guilds still in operation." stated the chairman as he began the session.

"Then maybe we should root them altogether." suggested Org.

"And how would you go about doing that?" questioned Siegrain sarcastically.

"It's inexcusable that someone was able to smuggle Zeref's magic again." stated Org, ignoring the retort as he held up a container with lullaby sealed inside.

"Even worse is the fact that they got their hands on it so easily." added an elder wizard with a bushy beard.

"We should bring in who ever was in charge of security to take responsibility." proposed the wizard next to him.

Siegrain snorted at the ridiculousness of the idea before changing the topic to something even more controversial, "How ironic is it that Fairy Tail of all people showed up to save the day? The one guild that has constantly been a thorn in our side."

"They squashed one guild with only a handful of mages." slyly commented Ultear, eliciting a round of displeased grunts and growls from the majority of the council.

Siegrain shook his head at their stubborn grudge against the guild, "I understand that for some of you it's an ugly truth, but that's simply how it is. If the guild masters were all killed by lullaby, things would be much worse. Most of us would probably be out of a job."

"Don't be silly! Are you really going to bring up the matter of responsibility here! That's out of the question! We're already tearing our hair out over their reckless behavior!" roared Org as he banged his fist on the table.

All the younger, healthy haired members of council ran their fingers through their luscious locks while thinking, _'Speak for yourself.'_

Siegrain merely shook his head at the outburst, "You should show some appreciation and stop your useless bitching."

The council descended into their normal bickering as the chairmen called for order.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"The terrorist attempt of Eisenwald at the guild masters' regular meeting site became big news very quickly. Not soon after the entire nation was gossiping about it. It's still hard to believe that I was right in the middle of such a huge event! But here I am today to just living another normal day in my regular little life. Though to be honest, I do get excited when I remember the experience from time to time. I think that was my first job were I actually contributed something worthwhile. Although I don't like to admit it, I guess I really to do owe Naruto. That new key he gave me is awesome. Now that I think about it, that is the second time he's given me a gate key. Maybe there's something more to it? Who knows? I'll never figure out how you ended up with Dad, boys are so confusing-" Kyuubi suddenly paused in her reading. "Ha! I told you she was sucked in already! The funny thing is he wasn't even trying!"

Cana shrugged not really caring, "Whatever keep going! She's got to have something more juicy than that!"

"Our team must be-" Kyuubi was cut off as the door to Lucy's apartment suddenly slammed open with Lucy marching in carrying groceries, she instantly froze at the sight of the two girls.

"What are you doing in my apartment!" yelled Lucy at Kyuubi and Cana before noticing the letter to her mother in the redhead's hands. In the blink of an eye the groceries were on the kitchen table and she had snatched the letter from Kyuubi. "What the hell! Why are you people always in my apartment, going through my personal things?"

Cana suddenly did a dead on impression of Lucy's voice, "Maybe there's something more to it? Boys are so confusing..he sure is cute though!"

"What! I thought I changed that part!" exclaimed Lucy as she frantically read through the letter, only to not find that section in there.

"You are right, she does have it bad!" laughed Cana.

_'Why me!' _thought Lucy in exasperation. "Why are you here?"

"Looking for you! If you don't hurry up you're going to miss the fight!" exclaimed Kyuubi.

"Fight? Oh you mean that spar between Erza and Natsu?" asked Lucy.

"Huh? Oh, Erza didn't feel like fighting him today so she's making Naruto fight him instead. Naruto initially refused, but...you could say he _came_ around to her way of thinking soon enough." replied Cana with a smirk that elicited a giggle from Kyuubi.

X-X-X-X-X-X

As typical per a small battle between two of it's members, nearly the entire guild gathered outside to witness the fight. The crowd was buzzing with chatter about the upcoming battle.

"Are you guys sure about this?" questioned Lucy.

Cana waved off her concern as she took another bet at small both she set up between a few barrels of sake, "Of course. It's not like they haven't fought before."

"They're dead serious, if they weren't they wouldn't be real men." declared Elfman.

"Hah! I doubt Naruto is taking this seriously." mocked Gray.

Erza raised an eyebrow at this, "Of course he is, I told him to."

"Oh man Natsu is really in for it now! I wonder what he did to piss her off this time." joked Loke.

Lucy shook her head at the magnitude of it all, "I still can't believe two people from the strongest team-"

Mirajane cut her off, "Strongest team? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Gray, Natsu, Erza, and Naruto. They're the strongest mages in Fairy Tail right?" replied Lucy.

Gray snorted at the ridiculousness of the statement, "Are you nuts? Where did you hear that kind of nonsense."

Mirajane gave Lisanna a pointed look, "Sis were you running off at the mouth again?"

"I may have stretched it a little..." responded Lisanna.

Kyuubi nearly burst out in laughter, "Pfft. Four strongest mages my ass."

"I can certainly acknowledge the manliness of Gray and Natsu, but there are much stronger men in guild than those two. Like me!" proclaimed Elfman.

"What about Naruto?" asked Lucy.

Elfman snorted, "Ha! You think a weakling could handle Mira! On that fact alone he could be the strongest man in the guild."

He was rewarded with swat to the back of the head courtesy of said sister, "Shut up!"

"Erza is certainly up there for strongest female in guild." stated Levy, earning a pair of glares from Mirajane and Kyuubi. "I only said she was up there..."

"For strongest male Mystogun, Laxus, and Naruto." said Jet.

"Don't forget about 'that geezer' " added Droy.

"Who cares about that crap, this should be an awesome battle." declared a grinning Elfman.

"Really? I'm trying to figure how we're going to put Natsu back together after Naruto is done with him." countered a smirking Gray.

In the middle of it all Naruto and Natsu continued to stare each other down, Natsu sporting an excited grin while Naruto possessed a bored look.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Naruto. "You can still save yourself some humiliation."

"Yeah right! I'm not going to waste a chance like this! I was actually hoping to fight you instead of Erza, but I knew that if she didn't make you take it seriously it wouldn't be worth it! Every time you've fought me before, you always used it as a training exercise while reading one of those stupid books. No more! I'm not a kid anymore, today I will challenge you and win!" proclaimed Natsu.

Naruto let out a low chuckle, "Very well. If you don't want to be embarrassed, you better come at me with the intent to kill. I won't be holding back, so show me your power! **Armor of Wildfire! Dao Jin!**"

"He wasn't kidding about holding back. Naruto has never faced Natsu while using his armor." commented Cana.

"Even worse for Natsu, it's the wildfire armor. Naruto can easily turn his flames against him." added Mirajane.

"Isn't Naruto taking this a bit too seriously?" questioned a slightly worried Lisanna.

Happy stared at the scene with blank look momentarily before turning and walking back to Cana's betting stand, "Can you double the bet I placed on Naruto?"

"Don't you have any faith at all?" exclaimed Lucy. "I would never do such a thing, I don't want anyone to lose!"

"That pure-hearted crap doesn't fly here." deadpanned Cana.

Lucy sighed, "Fine, double my bet on Naruto as well."

Gray merely snorted in response to her theatrics.

"Oh yeah! Armor of Wildfire! Bring it on!" bellowed Natsu.

"Dude this is not a cheer-leading competition." deadpanned Naruto.

"Ready...Go!" declared Makarov as he signaled the start of the battle. Natsu charged Naruto aiming a flame enhanced kick at his head that Naruto dodged. The pink haired fire mage followed with a double swipe attempt of **Salamander's Claw** before somersaulting into a flame powered double kick. Naruto managed to stonewall him at every turn, bending back at a nearly impossible angle causing Natsu to sail overhead after the double kick attempt. The pink haired mage stopped on a dime using a handstand, before launching himself back towards his opponent, firing a fire blast from his mouth at point blank range. Naruto easily swatted the blast the aside, the attack landing a little to close for comfort for some of the spectators.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!"

"Watch it you bastards!"

"Amazing!" exclaimed Lucy.

"See, I told you it would be a good match!" gloated Elfman.

"Good match? Where? Naruto hasn't even taken out his swords." retorted Gray.

The two fighters now stood crouched on opposite edges of the makeshift battle area. Natsu channeled more fire around his limbs, while Naruto unsheathed his katanas, the blades of both swords shrouded with fire. The duo moved to charge each other when a shout stopped them in their tracks.

"Halt! Everyone Stop!" declared a voice. Everyone turned back to see a humanoid frog making his way through the crowd.

"I am a messenger from the council. Nobody move." he commanded.

"The Council!" blurted a stunned Levy.

"A messenger!" exclaimed a shocked Droy.

"This place!" yelled a befuddled Jet.

"Why is nobody fazed by his appearance! He's a frog-man!" stammered an incredulous Lucy.

"With the charge of disturbing the peace and causing public panic, along with 13 other crimes from the Eisenwald terrorism incident., Naruto Uzumaki has been placed under arrest!" declared the messenger, only to become confused at the sight in front him. Naruto had dispelled his armor and crouched down, huddled up with a bunch of clones. "Will the real Naruto Uzumaki please stand up! I repeat will the real Naruto Uzumaki please stand up!"

In response all the Narutos looked at each other before standing up and huddling back together to continue their planning.

The messenger sweat dropped at the sight looking for some help from the guild members, "We're gonna have a problem here..."

Elfman snorted at him, "What? You act like you've never seen a shadow clone before."

X-X-X-X-X-X

The mood of the guild did a complete 180 in comparison to the excitement previously flowing through everyone at the fight. Naruto's arrest seemed to depress nearly everyone in the guild as they all sat around with their heads hung. Everyone was silent except for one small lizard trapped underneath a glass on the bar next to Makarov.

"Let me out! Let me out of here!" it yelled.

"Natsu be quiet." ordered Kyuubi.

Natsu ignored her, "LEMME OOOUUUUT!"

Kyuubi glared as she leaned right down in front of his face, "You'll act reckless if we let you out."

"I won't! I mean, change me back to normal!" demanded Natsu.

"Then you'll try and rescue Naruto won't you?" she stated.

Natsu snorted, "Who cares about that guy?"

"Our opponent is the council; we can only sit tight for now." advised Gray.

"Let me out! I just have something to tell them. I don't care if they're council members, they're wrong!" yelled Natsu.

"It's not that simple. Even if something is white, if a council member says it's black, then it's black. The won't listen to our excuses." explained Gray.

"But why? We've done so many things in the past, things worse than this." commented Elfman.

"Yeah, this doesn't make any sense." added Loke.

"I'm positive...I'm positive something fishy is going on." Lucy mumbled to herself.

It was quiet for a few moments until Cana randomly started giggling, "I don't know what we're so worried about. This is Naruto-kun we're talking about."

Mirajane smirked at that, "Ha! When you put it that way, I almost feel sorry for those bastards."

X-X-X-X-X-X

The messenger lead Naruto down the hallway to the courtroom of the Fiore Branch of the council. The messenger allowed Naruto a quick wardrobe change along the way, the blond opting for a dark blue pinstripe suit with a red tie. As they approached the room, Naruto noticed a familiar figure lurking in the shadows.

"This must be your doing Siegrain, still holding a grudge?" quipped Naruto. The messenger next to him immediately bowed in respect to the council member.

"What's with the hostility? It's been such a long time Naruto." replied Siegrain casually.

"Not nearly long enough. You should have taken my advice and run back to the hole you crawled out of, clinging to the precious days of life you have left before I terminate you." growled Naruto.

Siegrain waved off his threat, "You're taking this way too seriously. All the members here have fake bodies, no one would actually come here for such a small matter. With the Eisenwald incident so public-"

Naruto cut him off, "I don't want to here your bullshit excuses, I'm the one doing you bastards a favor."

Siegrain shook his head with a grin, "Same old Naruto, I'll have you know I defended Fairy Tail in this matter."

"Congratulations. I'm all out of cookies, but I can certainly shove my foot up your ass. I'm sure a guy like you would probably enjoy that more than the cookie." countered a grinning Naruto.

Siegrain chuckled in response as his own grin widened even further, "No thanks, but can you tell me how Er-"

Naruto cut him off again, this time his tone laced with venom, "You don't get to say her name. Don't worry, I'll keep your little secret, if only so I can cut your heart out myself."

Naruto continued marching forward towards the door, effectively ending the conversation. Siegrain frowned before vanishing in a flash of light.

"You know someone that important?" stammered the messenger in awe.

"That guy? He's just your run of the mill bastard coated bastard with bastard filling." replied Naruto flippantly, almost causing the messenger to faint.

The two proceeded to enter the main chamber. The messenger lead Naruto to the witness stand in front of the council before moving to his own position.

"We will now start the mage trial. Mr. Uzumaki has taken the stand." commanded the messenger.

"If I may?" asked Naruto raising his handcuffs towards the council, before receiving a nod from the chairman and freeing himself. "Ahh, so much better."

X-X-X-X-X-X

"We can't just leave him there like that! How many times has he helped us out? Let's go and testify for him!" declared Lucy.

"Lucy." murmured the mage next to her, impressed with her character.

"Hmm...Have some patience." stated Makarov, dismissing her concern.

"Patience! What are you saying! This isn't fair! If he gets sentenced, it'll be too late." exclaimed Lucy.

"No matter how fast we get there, we'd be too late anyway." replied Makarov.

"But!" began Lucy, but she was now at a loss for words.

"Lemmme out! Let me oooouut!" demanded Natsu again.

Makarov gave him an appraising eye, "Are you sure you want to come out?"

Surprisingly Natsu went silent as he scratched his chin thinking about it.

"What's up Natsu? Cat got your tongue?" questioned Makarov with a sly grin as he suddenly reversed the transformation revealing the lizard to be Macao, stunning everyone in the guild.

"Sorry, but I was indebted to both of those guys. It was the least I could do." said Macao. "I transformed into a lizard so I could pretend to be Natsu."

"This is bad! Where is the real Natsu?" shrieked Lucy.

"Don't tell me that idiot went after Naruto!" growled Gray.

"Yeah probably..." chuckled Macao as he rubbed the back of his head witha sheepish grin.

"This is bad! He'll probably beat up the council members!" roared Elfman.

"Master, perhaps we should-" started a worried Erza only to be cut off by Makarov.

"Everyone sit down and be quiet. We will all wait here for the outcome. I've sent Naruto to deal with council before; he'll have a little fun at their expense, but he'll make sure Natsu doesn't cross the line." said Makarov. _'I hope...'_

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Mr. Uzumaki, is it true that you were responsible for causing people to flee a train, train station, and town due to panic and fear during the Eisenwald incident?" questioned the chairman.

Naruto paused momentarily before giving a saucy wink causing many of the women to blush, "I plead da fif."

There was some grumbling at response, but Org plowed on ahead, "Can you tell us about the reported giant explosion that nearly destroyed a train?"

"Um, no, but I can tell you I plead the fizz-iff." responded Naruto with a grin.

Org's eye twitched at the answer, but he continued on nonetheless, "Can you tell us why the proper authorities weren't notified when situation became critical?"

Naruto cleared his throat as he suddenly adopted a singing voice, "WELLL! III! I SAID! I SAID THAT THERE ARE SO MANY AMENDMENTS! IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED GUILD ASSOCIATION! I CAN ONLY CHOOSE ONE...i can only choose ONE! I plead the fif. (bang-bang) I plead the fif! (bang-bang) FIVE! One, two, three, four, FIF! Anythang you say? FIF! Go ahead and ask me a question."

"Well-" started Org.

Naruto cut him off, "FIF!" Naruto then snapped his fingers and a large group of clones appeared behind him dressed like a Southern Baptist Church Choir and started singing.

"PLEASE DON'T GIVE THIS MAN NO LIP!" sang the clone choir.

"UUUUN-HUUUH!" sang the original.

"CAUSE HE GONE PLEAD DA FIF!  
WE SAID DON'T GIVE THIS MAN NO LIP,  
CAUSE HE GONE PLEAD DA FIF!"

Several members of the council got caught up in the moment and starting singing and clapping along with the clones as they sung the chorus.

"WE SAID DON'T GIVE THIS MAN NO LIP,  
CAUSE HE GONE PLEAD DA FIF!  
ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR,"

"FFFFFFFIIIIIIIIIFFFFFFFF!" finished the original as slid to his knees in front of the council. "I have a certain document that I think you need to see." Naruto then held up a piece of paper with FIF written on it. This sent the entire courtroom into chaos as half of them laugh and cheered and the other half started yelling in outrage.

"Order! Order! Order!" declared the Chairman as he banged his gavel.

"Listen here you little punk! You will stop dodging the questions of this court and answer them truthfully!" demanded Org.

"You want the truth?" Naruto suddenly slammed his hands down on the rail in front of him, "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"

The whole courtroom descended into chaos again as the chairman tried to regain order.

"Order! Order! Order!" declared the Chairman as he banged his gavel calming everyone down. "If you do not stop trying to make a mockery of this courtroom Mr. Uzumaki, I will be forced to find you in contempt."

"Fine, fine-" Naruto's attempt to placate the council was interrupted by a large explosion behind him. The wall behind him crumbled as Natsu charged forward in a black and orange jumpsuit with a blond wig, ranting and raving.

"I'm the shogun, Naruto Uzumaki dattebayo!" bellowed Natsu. "Arrest me if you can dattebayo!"

Everyone in the courtroom just stared at him in shock, unable to believe what they were seeing.

"I'm Naruto dammit! Tell me what I'm guilty of!" roared Naruto. "Make sure it's even more important than the guild masters lives dattebayo!"

Siegrain grinned at his bravado while Naruto face-palmed. Natsu merely struck a pose while grinning like an idiot.

_'After all I've done to distance myself from that reputation, this idiot...'_ thought Naruto as he gripped his hair in frustration.

"P-Put them in Jail." commanded the chairman, deciding to bring everything to an end before it got even worse.

"Natsu..." growled Naruto, rage pouring off him.

"Hey! I'm not Natsu, I'm Naruto dattebayo!" declared the oblivious pink haired mage.

"You're a dead man dattebayo!" roared Naruto as he dove at his moronic pink haired friend.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"You idiot the whole stinking trial was a sham! A formality!" yelled Naruto. The duo now sat in a spacious jail cell, as a fuming Naruto continued to rant.

"Formality?" questioned a confused Natsu.

"The arrest was just for show. The council needed to display authority so they can keep us in check." explained Naruto.

Natsu was still lost, "What do you mean? I don't get it?"

"It means that after I extracted my pound of flesh for them using me as a scapegoat, I would have been found guilty, but received no punishment. I'd be on my way home if you didn't decide to go and act a fool!" roared Naruto.

Natsu pointed a finger at him in an accusing manner, "But Master says you always act a fool in front of the council!"

Naruto shook his head in exasperation, "Yes I do, but there's a method to the madness. It can't be random stuff, let me tell you about the time..."

Unknown to the duo they had an eavesdropper on their conversation, "So it seems the rumors were true. I should have put two and two together,"

Siegrain turned and moved toward the exit of the hallway leading up to Naruto and Natsu's jail cell. A smirk formed on his face as he heard Natsu burst out in laughter, "If anyone was going to take Nastu Dragneel under his wing, it would have to be the master of chaos himself, Naruto Uzumaki."

X-X-X-X-X-X

After spending the night in jail, both boys were released and returned to the guild. Natsu had returned to his usual cheerful self, despite spending the night in jail.

"Yeah I'm free! Freedom! Hell yeah!" cheered Natsu as he danced around.

The rest of the mourning crowd did not appreciate his enthusiasm.

"Oi! Eat quietly!"

"Hey! Shut up!"

"You would think he spent one year in jail instead of one night." commented Lucy with a sigh. "I can't believe the whole thing was a formality... all that time wasted worrying."

"I get it!" declared Gray. "The messenger was a frog so he bounced right back."

Elfman shook his head, "As expected of an ice mage, as cold as ice! By the way, what happened to the fight between Naruto and Natsu?"

"That's right! I almost forgot!" roared Natsu. "Naruto! Get down here!"

"He's not here. You know he never skips out on his morning training." replied Erza

"Who cares about stupid training! I want to fight!" bellowed Natsu.

Erza gave him a look that froze him in place, "What was that?"

"Nothing..." mumbled Natsu as he looked away and started whistling.

"You know, if you didn't stop training with Naruto, perhaps you'd be able to go the next floor by now." commented Makarov.

Natsu snorted, "I'm crazy, but I'm not that crazy."

Lisanna cringed at thought of when Natsu was strictly under Naruto's guidance, "I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did."

"I'm sure his training couldn't be that bad. Since he's so strong some of you must have trained with him?" asked Lucy.

"The dude is insane." deadpanned Gray.

"He's got a death wish." added Happy.

"I don't have a death wish." added Elfman.

"I'm told old for that shit." said Makarov.

"You guys are all just a bunch of lazy bums that's all." declared Naruto as he walked up and sat next to Erza.

"Naruto! Let's finish our right!" roared Natsu as he jumped up.

Natsu suddenly froze as he felt a knife at his throat, a spike of killing intent, and a voice speak into his ear, "How bout let's not and say I won?"

"You're still mad about me getting you thrown in jail aren't you?" replied Natsu with a nervous grin.

"See Gray! He's not as stupid as he looks." chimed Happy.

"Yeah Gray! I'm not as stupid as I- Hey!" responded Natsu, causing Gray to nearly fall out of his chair with laughter.

Not one to suffer alone in humiliation the pink haired dragon slayer struck back with vengeance, "Ha! Well at least I don't suffer from chronic shrinkage!"

"Why you!" yelled Gray as the duo started their morning brawl.

Makarov chuckled at their antics before suddenly letting out a yawn.

"What's bothering you master?" asked Lisanna.

"Nothing much, just getting sleepy." he replied before suddenly looking up wide awake. "It's him."

Immediately everyone in guild started dropping like flies as they fell asleep. A figure in dark clothing with a bandanna covering his face, entered the guild once everyone was asleep, making his way to towards the back.

"Mystogun." greeted Makarov as he approached the job board. The silent figure grabbed a job before turning and leaving.

"I'm leaving." he said before turning and walking out. "Naruto, you still owe me."

"Cheap bastard." grumbled Naruto as he stopped faking being asleep and pulled out a small sack of money. He pulled out a few notes before chucking the bag at the back of his head.

"Thanks." Mystogun replied as he caught it without looking back.

"Hey release your sleep magic!" yelled Makarov.

"Five, four, three, two, one..." at the end of his countdown Mystogun vanished from sight and everyone woke up.

"That felling was it Mystogun?"

"That asshole!"

"Mystogun?" questioned a puzzled Lucy.

"He's one of the strongest mage candidates in Fairy Tail." answered Elfman.

"For some reason he doesn't like to be seen. Whenever he arrives, he puts everyone to sleep while he takes his jobs." added Gray.

"That's sounds a little suspicious!" exclaimed Lucy.

Gray shrugged, "Only the master knows his face."

"No, I know it as well." a voiced rang out from the second floor.

"Laxus! You're here!"

"This is rare!"

"Both Laxus and Mystogun on the same day!"

"There's another of the strongest mage candidates." Gray informed Lucy.

"Mystogun is really shy. Don't question it to much." stated Laxus.

"There are more subtle ways of doing it. Deep down he likes to make a big spectacle." retorted Naruto.

"How would you know?" sneered Laxus.

"I know him better than you." flippantly replied Naruto. "I owed the cheap bastard some money."

"Laxus! Fight me!" bellowed Natsu.

The guy next to him snorted, "You were easily beaten by Naruto."

Natsu gave him a flat look, "So, Naruto is stronger than Laxus."

"What was that!" barked Laxus.

"Don't get so pissy. He only speaks the truth." replied a smirking Naruto.

"As if a circus clown loser like you could ever be a match for me. He's never beaten Erza, let alone you." sneered Laxus.

Erza started leaking killing intent, "What is that supposed to mean..."

Lisanna tried to pacify the angered redhead, "Calm down, he's just being an idiot."

"Come down here and say that shit you bastard!" bellowed Natsu.

"Why don't you come up?" retorted Laxus with a smirk.

Natsu went to charge up there be he was held back by Naruto. He turned for an explanation, but Naruto only nodded towards Makarov.

"You can't go to the second floor yet." stated the Master.

"Haha you got scolded!" taunted Laxus.

"You cut it out too, Laxus." warned Makarov.

Laxus let out a laugh, "I'll never give Fairy tail's strongest position to anyone else. Not to Erza, not to Mystogun, not to that geezer, and certianly not to you..._dobe._"

Everyone froze as the temperature of the room dropped about 30 degrees.

"Shit." cursed Erza as she prepare herself to stop Naruto's impending explosion.

"Laxus stepped in it now." muttered Kyuubi as she prepared to do the same.

"What just happened?" asked a confused Lucy.

"Around Naruto, that word is forbidden." stated a dead serious Elfman.

"I don't get it? What's so bad about the word do-" Elfman, Gray, and Happy slammed their respective hands and paws in front of Lucy's mouth to shut her up.

"SSSSHH!"

"Are you trying to get yourself killed!" scolded Gray.

Everyone stared at Naruto expectantly. He had his head down with his bangs dripping in front of his eyes. When he finally looked up he was sporting a manic grin, putting everyone on alert, "Look man, I know that you're jealous in all, being that I'm with the four hottest girls in the guild and your only experience was with that Okama in South Beach, but there's no reason to make outlandish statements like that."

Everyone in the guild froze, staring at Laxus in disbelief.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE! THE BEARD WAS FAKE! IT WAS A WOMAN!" bellowed Laxus.

"Sure, sure." replied Naruto in a placating manner.

Immediately everyone exploded with laughter.

"Very funny clown. You win this round." grumbled Laxus before he stormed off.

"What was that all about?" questioned Lucy.

"Believe it or not when those two we're younger, they we're pretty good friends." answered Lisanna.

Lucy shook her head in disbelief, "No way, that's not possible."

"It's true." added Kyuubi who walked in on the conversation. "They had an argument a few years ago that started the feud you just saw. They have never actually come to a real fight, just insulting each other. I thinks it's because deep down they really are still friends and don't want to admit it."

Lucy laughed, "Boys are idiots."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The next day Naruto and Erza walked in together, returning from a quick job in a nearby town. As soon as they sat down Lisanna ran up to them.

"Naruto you're here! You need to hurry and stop Natsu! He took an S-class mission to the cursed Garuna island with Lucy and Happy! Gray went after them, but he didn't come back either!"

Naruto shrugged in response, "So?"

"He's not allowed to do those jobs!" bellowed Makarov.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at them, "You guys think so little of Natsu? He has trained under me after all. I bet he took the cheapest one right? They'll be fine."

"Not after I'm done with them, they won't." declared Erza as she stood and turned towards the door.

"Erza, you know Natsu can handle himself, together with the other three they will all be fine." said Naruto.

"I don't care about that, they broke the rules." replied Erza.

Naruto let out a sigh as he rubbed his forehead, "Erza wait up, if we're going after them we're going to need a ship. Cana grab a couple of sea bounties, we're taking the ship!"

"Yes!" cheered Cana as she pumped her fist. "Pirated always have good booze!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The normally stoic Erza stood stunned at the sight of large ship docked in the harbor.

"When did you by this thing?" she asked.

"I didn't." answered Naruto. "This was a Pirate Ship I commandeered after a job. Technically it's Cana's since I gave it to her loaded with the booze from the rescued cargo fleet 'lost at sea' from the job for her last birthday."

"This thing is huge! Just who is going run this giant ship?" questioned Erza.

"You'll see!" giggled Cana. "The Captain's a bit of clown."

Naruto started laugh maniacally as he leaped up to the steering wheel,"Yes! The most feared captain in the seven seas! The commander of a crew of infinite men! The great, the venerable..." All of a sudden the ship was covered in a huge plume of smoke that soon cleared to reveal, "CAPTAIN BUGGY!"

"BUGGY! BUGGY! BUGGY! BUGGY! BUGGY!..." chanted the crew of clones transformed into random pirates.

* * *

Review, and maybe you can become a member of the great Captain Buggy's crew! Buggy! Buggy! Buggy!


	7. The Fantastic Voyage

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything.

* * *

**The Fantastic Voyage**

Erza Scarlet tilted her head down to inspect the blade in her hand with a critical eye as she polished it with ruthless efficiency. The redhead was obsessed with making sure her precious weapons maintained their pristine condition, using both magical and the old fashioned methods to maintain them. Her long red hair swayed slightly in the sea breeze. The sun shined brightly overhead and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Erza took a moment to glance at her female companion lounging around in a beach chair on the top deck as she drunk from a barrel of sake. Looking down at her armored covered torso and then back up to the bikini top Cana was sporting, she started shaking her head. She long ago gave up trying understand how someone who was often as serious as herself, could dress that way nearly all the time. Erza released the summoning on her long sword, but before she could move onto polishing her axe, a pair off shirtless Narutos crossed her vision, hauling a wooden crate together. Both women took the time to ogle the sweaty drenched muscular form of their lover, having momentary flashbacks to the previous night. Naruto had anchored the ship and left some clones to keep watch, while he wined and dined them down below in the captain's quarters of the ship. This set a mood that even the stubborn Erza couldn't resist, and they all enjoyed a passionate night of love-making. Despite her complete satisfaction from the night before Erza continued to maintain her cold attitude in the morning, nothing Naruto could do would convince her that Natsu was justified in taking an S-ranked job. He and everyone who went with him, would be yanked off the job immediately and punished severely. In her mind that was simply the way things had to be, the rules were in place for a reason.

Cana was caught somewhere in the middle of the two. While she understand Erza's position on maintaining order and safety by enforcing the rules, she also agreed with Naruto's point that they should also look at the context of each case. She also trusted that Naruto's full confidence in the group to succeed was not misplaced. As she sipped on some more of her sake, she started to ponder the fact that she herself was not cleared to take or lead S-Class jobs despite the fact that she had the potential to do so.

_'Maybe if I didn't spend so much time drinking, I could get myself into top shape and get that promotion.'_ she thought while taking another sip. _'But then again, going on S-class jobs would seriously cut into my drinking time after I got the promotion...'_

Naruto was having the time of his life sailing the ship. He and his clones ran the sea vessel like a crew of experienced sailors. While learning to master the Armor of the Torrent several years back, Naruto embarked on numerous solo jobs out at sea. He often found himself in combat with pirates who were actually the naval arms of some dark guilds. One of his common ploys was volunteering to work on cargo and passenger ships which were big targets, in order to catch the pirates in the act. Through all his jobs on board various vessels, he eventually learned how to operate every square inch of a ship. On a job about six months ago, he ran across a rather luxurious pirate ship stocked to the brim with booze hijacked from a sunken cargo ship. It seemed that the crew he'd eliminated was remodeling the vessel they stole from his client for a massive party voyage. With all the revamping done by the Pirates, the client moaned and groaned about how she how much she was going to have to pay to return to the original specifications her husband wanted. He offered to let her keep the fee for job while letting him have the vessel and never looked back. Previously he had only 'christened' the ship with Cana, but with Erza joining in this time around it was even more exciting. He figured that a fulfilling romantic evening would soften her edge a bit, but she seemed to be determined to have her way with this situation. He couldn't really complain much though, a few more nights like that out at sea and he'd be glad to hand out Natsu's punishment personally.

"What is this place exactly?" questioned Erza with a twitching eyebrow as she eyed the half building, half ship structure floating in the middle of the ocean that they were currently approaching. Several other ships were anchored right next to it, including a few with some recognizable pirate insignias that caught her eye. From the outside you could hear the loud obnoxious music blaring and every few minutes a ruckus cheer could be heard from inside. They'd been at sea for about a day and a half, Erza still in her disciplinarian mood the entire time. She'd been under the impression they were sailing straight to the location of Natsu and company. In the midst of Naruto and Cana executing their plan of stalling for as much time as possible on their way to Galuna Island, they neglected to mention the fact that they also had no idea how to get there.

Cana snorted in amusement, "What do you think?"

"If you're trying to stall for more time..." began Erza with an irritated tone only to be cut off by Naruto.

"For ye land lubbers, where be tha place ya go for the best info? Where ye' not at a bar when ye' picked up thar very good info on thee' Eisenwald situation?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Erza's mouth twitched at the sight of Naruto in a ridiculous pirate outfit, with his equally ridiculous accent, but she did not give in. "Touche."

"This place is only good for picking up info anyway. The alcohol sucks." complained a frowning Cana.

"It's a pirate bar, run by ex-pirates. You don't get the goods unless you offer the right payments." cryptically explained Naruto.

"I still don't understand why we're stopping here. Why can't we just sail straight to the island they're on?" questioned an annoyed Erza.

"It's called a cursed island for a reason, thanks to the bizarre tides and currents, you can only reach the place during a specific time of day. Otherwise, you will sail right around it completely. We need to find someone who can guide us there." answered Naruto with a business like tone.

"How do you know all this?" asked a curious Cana.

Naruto shrugged in response, "I scouted out the job a few times before, but didn't take it because something more interesting came along. Now let's head inside before someone spots us."

The blond transformed himself into the form of a nondescript black haired pirate with a captain's hat, while to girls donned a pair of hooded cloaks to cover their more recognizable features. Naruto placed a arm around each of them before leaping directly from their ship to the front entrance of the bar.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

(A/N: Go to Youtube and play the Star Wars Cantina Theme now! DO IT NOW! I SAID DO IT NOW! YOU DON'T WANT TO? FINE! But I must say it is much more enjoyable with it.)

"KANPAI!" roared all the pirates seated at the counter as the bar tender served up another round of beers.

"GO! GO! GO! GO!" A group of men and women cheered as a bald-headed man with a gray beard proceeded to down an entire pitcher of whiskey before slamming the empty pitcher down onto the tabletop. He stood and raised his arms in victory as the man across from him fell out of his chair and passed out. Everyone roared in approval, as he grabbed a barmaid by the hands who shrieked in surprise as he pulled her onto the tabletop and started dancing.

"Looks like another round on Roscoe!" he declared eliciting another roar off approval from his companions. No sooner did the waitress move to the bar to get their order did the double-door entrance slam open and a drenched figure with green hair and a bushy beard stumbled inside.

"Hey barkeep! Whose leg do you have to hump to get a dry martini around here?" he questioned while discarding his wet coat.

"MARCO!" cheered the party of people that just had the drinking contest.

"What took you so long ya bastard?" greeted the balded headed man as he jumped down from the tabletop with the barmaid and slipped her a tip in the process.

"This group of mages wanted to bum a ride to this cursed Island. I told them no, but I owed a guy a favor and he called it in for them." replied Marco.

"Eh, his waste." shrugged the bald guy before he slammed a drink into Marco's hand. "Who cares about that crap, you've got a long way to go to catch up my friend!"

"Now that's what I like to hear!" cheered Marco. "Hey Barkeep where's that martini?"

"I don't know Marco, this is a pirate bar. We don't serve that sissy crap around these parts. Should I be calling you Marcia?" she retorted from behind the counter.

"Don't tell me you're still bitter about that night in elk grove?" he whined.

"I'm not bitter, it was the best thirty seconds I had all night." she replied with a smirk sending the bar into an uproar of laughter.

In a medium sized booth on the back wall sat Naruto, Erza, and Cana. The trio quietly passed the time while playing cards in between sipping their drinks. Naturally Cana was winning the game, but none of the three were truly paying attention to the gin rummy in front of them. Cana idly shuffled the cards in her hand as she monitored the group seated right up at the bar. So far none of them disclosed anything of relevant interest, but she had a gut feeling that there was something of interest with this crew. Naruto kept absently checking the cards in his hands while he tuned into the conversations of Marco, waiting for the pirate to reveal anything about the mages he just ferried to a cursed island. The blond was pretty sure he was referring to Natsu, Gray, and Lucy, but he was waiting for some sort of confirmation before making a move. Erza chose not to focus on the large parties of people and kept an eye on the more quiet and isolated figures. She ran her fingers through Naruto's hair absentmindedly as the blond yawned and leaned against her shoulder.

"This sure is a slow day for gathering intel. The sauce usually gets people way more chatty than this." mumbled Naruto.

"We'd be on our way by now if someone had let me challenge that big guy to a drinking contest." muttered Cana as she gave Erza a glare.

The redhead paid her no mind, "You know better than to drink excessively while on a job."

"Technically, this isn't a job, it's babysitting." reminded Naruto.

"Enforcing the rules is just as important as any job." countered Erza with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto snorted in response, "Rules are merely a guideline to go by. You should evaluate each situation on it's own merit. I can't speak for Lucy and Gray, but Natsu knows how to handle himself. I've made sure of it. You still see him as that immature kid who had potential, but couldn't take of himself. He's matured a lot, even if he doesn't show it on the surface. He's on the verge of really coming into his own as a mage."

While Erza stewed on that for a few minutes, Naruto returned his attention to monitoring the bar patrons. A small brawl had broken in the middle of the room, most people ignoring it. Marco moved away from the commotion and was chatting away idly with some of his buddies when he noticed an elderly man in the corner of the bar giving him the stank eye. The man was of average height with long gray hair and a thick mustache. He had a jagged cross shaped scar running across his left cheek along with one blue eye and what appeared to be a fake green eye.

"Something wrong old timer?" questioned Marco, as he gave the man his full attention.

"You shouldn't be ferrying people out to that cursed island. You just sent those mages to their graves." grumbled the old man.

Marco gave him an incredulous look, "What are you talking about? Everyone knows that the 'curse' is an absolute joke. That place is nothing more than a tourist attraction."

"You know nothing about the true nature of the curse!" snarled the old man. "Mages, pirates, military men, no one comes back alive! I should know, it took the lives of most of my crew."

Marco shook his head in exasperation, "Riddle me this old timer, if it's such a cursed Island, why do so many people live there?"

"Those people aren't as good natured as they appear." sneered the man in response. "They offer ritual sacrifices to keep the curse at bay. And not just any type of sacrifices either, human sacrifices! They purchase slaves from dark guilds to do their dirty work."

Marco waved off his claims as if he were delusional and put an end to the conversation, "I say your full of crap. The only thing weird about that Island is that the currents make so you can only travel there during certain times. If the place was as corrupt as you say the military would obliterate it off the face of the earth."

"And we have our man." said Cana as she, Naruto, and Erza rose to their feet.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Cana was no longer having any fun on this trip. The ship suddenly lurched once again in the turbulent waters and she almost lost a barrel of her precious alcohol over the side of the ship. She managed to stop it in place before turning it rolling it down below with the rest of her stash. The wind whipped her hair around furiously while also blowing her cloak back tight against her body amidst the downpour from above. She gave Erza and her insulated armor the evil eye, as the redhead helped a pair of Naruto clones steady the mast of the ship. Her eyebrow started to twitch as she heard laughter from the old geezer they dragged along and Naruto as he manned the rudder's steering column.

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID THE ONLY TRICKY THINK ABOUT GETTING THERE WAS THE CURRENTS!" shouted Cana at Naruto through the howling winds of the storm.

"YES WE DO HAVE AMMUNITION FOR THE TURRETS!" Naruto yelled back. Cana screamed in frustration as she headed below deck to find some warmer clothing.

Erza looked around confused before she frowned, _'I don't see any turrets. If there are more weapons, he must show them to me.'_

"After we're done here, you two are taking me to the real weapons." Erza stated to clones next to her in an all too sweet tone.

"But the boss said-" started the clone on her right.

"He said to do whatever Erza-chan said needed to be done." interrupted the other clone.

The first clone gave him a look that said, 'That's not what the boss said.'

The second replied with a look that said, 'She doesn't dispel clones nicely.'

Erza stood there between with two of with a satisfied smirk on her face.

"Now this is what I call sailing!" declared the old man, as Naruto deftly navigated the ship between a pair of whirlpools.

After introducing themselves to the old man at the bar, Virgil, they told him of their predicament: needing a guide to the island in order to help out their friends. Virgil was stubborn at first, refusing to even consider the matter. They resorted to bribing him with paying his bar tab, and an autographed copy of the latest Icha Icha release. Surprisingly the grumpy Virgil, became very lively once they were back out at sea. Over the course of several days he regaled them with tales of the voyages of his old crew and the story behind his scar and fake eye. Originally his crew started off as a simple navy militia started up to defend their home port because it was constantly being overrun by pirates and other members of the criminal underworld. Since it was only a small port in a remote location, the military and the government ignored their pleas for assistance. After a short amount of time the crew managed to clean up the port and make a name for themselves. Their presence alone warded off the presence of most pirates. They group became very good at their jobs, too good. They came under fire from the military for infringing on their jurisdiction, but really it was about making the military look bad by doing their job for them. They were labeled as a pirate crew of merciless vigilantes and bounty hunters and forced out of their home as the military took over. Despite being branded as the type of scum they despised the most, they remained true to their cause making a living taking down the most hardcore pirates around. The government tried to spin in off as them taking out the competition, but enough of their true reputation started to spread by word of mouth that the started to be truly recognized for what they stood for.

"I thought this was supposed to be easy sailing!" groaned Cana as she returned to the top deck.

"HaHaHa!" laughed Virgil with unbridled joy as he leaned over the edge of a railing. "No man can predict the nature of the sea, lass!"

"I'm not drunk enough for this..." groaned Cana as she held on for dear life to a Naruto clone that was weighing down a rope for one of the sails near the original Naruto at the steering wheel.

"This is a light rain-shower! Nothing I can't handle!" shouted a confident Naruto as he manned the steering wheel, rapidly shifting it back and forth to navigate the turbulent waters. His clones where scrambling all over the place, the bulk of them constantly working the sails to deal with the swirling winds that threatened to tip the ship over. Despite the awkward angle the ship was leaning at, it was cutting right through the storm with brutal efficiency.

"When did you learn to sail like this?" asked Erza.

Naruto briefly recalled many of his early failed exploits in where he took down pirates, commandeered their ships, and proceeded to sink them with all the goods he confiscated before he could get back to land. "Lots and lots of practice..." he muttered quietly.

"DOES THAT LOOK LIKE A RAIN-SHOWER TO YOU!" shouted a hysterical Cana as she pointed towards the back of the ship. Naruto's jaw dropped as he turned and faced a humongous wave that was at least 10 stories tall.

"W-W-Wi-Wipeout!" stammered Virgil in shock.

"Not on my watch! Erza grab the wheel! That fucker is going down!" yelled Naruto as he leaped up into the air towards the aft of the boat.

"I don't know how the drive this thing!" shouted Erza as she scrambled to grab a hold of the wheel. It starting spinning rapidly and was proving to be difficult to control. Whichever way she tried to move it, it started to pull strongly in the opposite direction.

"The ship runs off magic power! Just channel your magic into the steering wheel! The turning is just for show!" shouted Cana.

Erza smiled while shaking her head as she felt it start to pull on her magic and the wheel suddenly came to a rest in her hands, "Figures..."

**"Armor of the Torrent! Dao Shin!" **shouted Naruto as he was engulfed in a bright blue flash of light. Seconds later he landed on the bow of the ship, fully decked out in his blue water elemental armor, pointing his trident at the incoming tsunami sized wave. The weapon started to glow brightly as he powered up for an attack, water started to collect and swirl around the tip of the trident before transforming into an aqua blue swirling light.

"YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH! **SUPER WAVE SMASHER!**" shouted Naruto as the attack fired, sounding off like a canon.

A massive blast of energy erupted from the tip of the trident, colliding with the wave head on and demolishing the center of it. The rest of the wave weekly collapsed off to the sides of the ship as it received a small speed boost while it continued to sail on with little resistance.

"Time to speed this trip up even more." said Naruto as he lifted his trident into the air, it started to glow as he poured his magic into the weapon to perform a technique. Five large globs of water started to take shape around the outside of the ship at sea level.

**"Water Slayer Technique: Five Feeding Sharks!" **announced Naruto as the five sharks attached themselves to the ship, more than doubling its speed.

Cana shrugged at the sight of it, "From Horsepower to Sharkpower, what will they think of next?"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"I told you that was nothing more than Rain-Shower." gloated Naruto as the ship moved through the now peaceful waters of the Southern Sea. With their increased speed from the water sharks, the ship was easily able to outrun the storm and settle into some smooth sailing.

"Don't start celebrating yet, sailor. In your haste to escape that storm you took us off course. We might be stuck in an even worse situation." warned Virgil.

"What could possibly be worse than that monsoon we just escaped?" asked an incredulous Cana.

"I doubt we will encounter anything worse than almost being sunk by the sea itself." added Erza in agreement.

"What's worse than that little rain shower? What about the deadliest patch of water in the southern seas, where the five major ocean currents all come together, the Devil's Pentagram!" exclaimed Virgil with a dark edge to his tone. "The weather is unpredictable, the currents are impossible to navigate, and the vicious sea creatures have never met a ship meal they didn't like."

"Meh, we've already dealt with bad weather, my sharks can circumvent any current, and none of these sea creatures have ever laid their eyes on Erza." retorted Naruto.

"There's something down there." said Cana as she pointed out some darkened shadows submerged beneath the ocean surface.

Naruto jumped down to sea level to get a closer look. "There are ships down here, tons of ships..." muttered Naruto in slight shock.

"We're in the ghost ring, the outer-rim of Pentagram." informed Virgil. "The strange currents always push the sunken ships to the outer edges of the region forming a ring of ghost ships that mark the point of no return."

"Nothing bad has happened yet, we can just turn around." suggested Cana.

"It's called the point of no return for a reason. We're now on a downward slope towards the center of the Pentagram, we can't turn around. The only way to escape from the Center is along the calm belt which divides the pentagram in half. The problem is that the calm belt is littered with the most vile creatures of the deep, only the most skilled of pirates have escaped to tell the tales." proclaimed Virgil.

"And per chance, you would happen to be one of these skilled pirates?" dryly asked Cana.

Virgil looked at her as if she was insane, "Hell no! We picked up a one armed man who somehow swam out of there on a plank of wood, he told us his tale and we forever avoided this place like the black plague!"

"Eh, I say it's all a load of crap." rudely blurted Naruto. "That guy probably lied to you so you wouldn't run into something he had hidden here. I bet the whole thing is a big hoax."

"Yeah, with cheesy name like Devil's Pentagram it has to be." agreed Cana.

"What was that?" asked Erza out of the blue.

"What was what?" replied Cana.

Briefly a faint hissing noise could be heard before it quickly died out, "That."

"It's probably the engine cooling itself off, I have been pushing it hard this trip." reasoned Naruto. His words feel on deaf ears a something suddenly rammed into the front of the ship nearly toppling it over. After everyone regained their bearings from the blow, they all looked out to see a large dark shadow slowly moving around the surface of the water.

"I don't think that is the engine." deadpanned Erza as whatever was hiding beneath the surface started to emerge.

At first it appeared to be a giant purple sea snake as it raised its head above the water, but the head was quickly accompanied by one more head on each side, along with a massive winged torso.

"Well this is fucking perfect! A baby Hydra!" groaned Virgil.

"This thing is a baby?" asked Naruto incredulously.

"Of course! A fully mature Hydra has at least 9 heads." replied Virgil with a matter-of-fact tone.

The three-headed sea serpent looked down upon the ship and its passengers with a predatory gleam. Suddenly the left and right heads opened their jaws wide, the left releasing a mist of poisonous gas, and the right massive hoard of smaller serpents that extended out and linked together like threads of rope. The serpents wrapped around the bow of the vessel and started reeling it in towards the thick mist. At this point the three mages jumped into action. Naruto, still in his Torrent Armor, created a thick mist of his own to combat the poison gas. Binding the poison to the water within his mist he used it to form a **Water Slayer Style: Water Dragon Bullet, **which he sent directly at the head that released the poison. Erza quickly Requiped her Black Wing Armor as she leaped high into air and channeled her power into her blade she made a violent slash that unleashed an enormous crescent shaped energy wave. The wave tore through the hoard of serpents unleashed by the right head, continuing until it sliced off the right head of the Hydra.

**"Summoned Lightning!"** declared Cana as she combined her Heaven, Reverse Death, and Mountains card to unleash a trio of green lightning bolts that struck the center head of the Hydra. To her surprise the the attack did little damage, if any at all. At the same time left head of the Hydra, which had been grappling with Naruto's water dragon bullet, suddenly bared it's sharp fangs and bit down into the water construct, causing it to collapse. Meanwhile to Erza's surprise as she watched the head she just chopped off sink into the deep water depths below, two more heads sprouted in its place. Thunder started to boom overhead as dark clouds rolled into the area.

Cana groaned as she felt the rain drops start to drizzle down, "And now the weather is getting shitty again, terrific."

"Yeah it is..." mumbled Naruto absentmindedly when he was suddenly struck by an idea. "Shitty weather is terrific. Cana, you and the old geezer take cover inside. Erza give me some cover, I'm about to try something new."

Naruto released the Armor of the Torrent and assumed a meditative position as he was bathed in a glow of light blue energy. Meanwhile Erza had switched from her Black Wing Armor to her Heaven's Wheel Armor and unleashed a continuous storm of blades at the triple headed sea serpent. The creature thrashed around in the water violently to try and protect itself. Unfortunately for Erza she ended up doing too much damage by beheading two more of the heads, causing it to regenerate an additional pair of heads to bring the total up to six. One of the new heads seemed to have the ability to extend its neck infinitely, and made a beeline for the ship with it's fangs bared. Before Erza could move to counter, the remaining Naruto clones working together on the ship swarmed the serpent head and simultaneously kicked it back where it came from.

"HHUU-AAHH!" grunted the clones in unison as they delivered the collective dose of boot to the head. Before they could all start celebrating a job well done, they all dispersed into smoke. Erza turned back to the original Naruto, the blue energy around him pulsing as his eyes opened, both glowing with power.

**"Shadow Secret Technique: Dual Prism!"** declared Naruto as copy of himself phased into existence from his own body and settled next to him.

"You wasted all that time to make a clone..." deadpanned Erza with a twitching eyebrow.

"It's more than a shadow clone, it's a legitimate copy!" announced both Narutos. "Can't be dispelled by a single blow, and more importantly can wield my full power. Now for the next step! **Dual Prism Technique: Dual Slayer!**** Armor of the Torrent\Halo! Dao Shin\Rei!"** shouted the pair of Narutos are they were engulfed in blue and green light respectively. Erza marveled at the sight of the two of them decked out in the armors simultaneously. She could feel the power rolling of of them in waves, each seemed as strong as Naruto at his full capacity.

"You should probably requip Lightning Empress." advised the Naruto in the Halo armor. The Hydra seemingly got annoyed at Naruto's display, as two of the heads opened their mouths and unleashed another vast horde of serpents at the ship to try and sink it. The rain had really started to pour down hard as the thunder continued to echo across the sky. The Torrent Naruto decided to take advantage of the wet conditions as he hefted his weapon into the air at the Hydra. The trident glowed with power as five water sharks reformed in the water and attacked the creature with renewed ferocity. As the sharks attacked Naruto dipped his trident into the water as he prepared for an even bigger assault on the creature while the sharks kept it busy. The Halo Naruto used his great speed to flash around the ship and help Erza combat the writhing mass of serpents streaking across the water to try and send them to a watery grave. As Erza fried serpents by the dozens with her blue lightning attacks, all that could be seen of the Naruto helping her was a green blur flashing back and forth as it destroyed waves of the creatures. He moved so fast that electricity sparked off of him wildly frying anything in its path. It was only thanks to her change of armor, that Erza wasn't harmed by friendly fire.

_'He's gotten even faster with that armor, even my eye can barely pick up his movements!'_ thought Erza as she watched him out of the corner of her fake eye.

**"Water Slayer Technique: Great Water Shark Missile!" **roared the Torrent armored Naruto as a massive water shark equal in size to the Hydra formed beneath water with only its dorsal fin showing above the surface as it darted towards the sea monster. It tackled the beast and chomped off a couple of heads in the process before circling around to attack again as the heads reformed. The Hydra gave its full attention to the shark, freeing up Erza and the Halo Naruto. As the sea beast continued to battle with gigantic water shark, the two Narutos stood side by side preparing for the big finish.

"Let's do this!" they both shouted simultaneously as they positioned their weapons, the Halo armored Naruto holding his sword straight up above his head while the Torrent armored Naruto pointed his trident directly ahead of himself. Thunder echoed from the storm clouds overhead as bolt of lightning struck down empowering the sword, while water started swirl around the head of the Trident.

**"Thunder Bolt Cut!/Super Wave Smasher! Slayer Combination Technique: Dragon Storm Cannon!"**

The two signature attacks merged to form a colossal dragon headed beam of crackling bright white energy that streaked across the surface of the water before obliterating the Hydra and continuing to streak across the sea several miles before dissipating. As the beam faded out of view all that remained of the sea serpent was a single head floating on top of a pile of ashes. A stunned Virgil and Cana emerged from within the ship with their eyes widened and jaws dropped to comical proportions. Erza shook her head as she started to laugh at the absurdity of it all. In a dim glow of light, both Narutos released their armors before merging back into one being.

"I'm glad that's over with. I haven't perfected that new clone technique. It really takes a lot..." Naruto suddenly collapsed mid sentence into the waiting arms of Cana who had moved next to him.

Erza let out a sigh as she rushed over, "Why does he always over do it?"

"No worries, he's just sleeping. Take him down below for a good rest, he's earned it." said Cana as Erza hefted the blond over her shoulder.

"We're stuck here until he wakes up though." stated a frowning Erza.

"This is my ship after all, you think I don't know how to sail it?" questioned Cana with a raised eyebrow.

Erza gave her a deadpan look that said, _'I figured you'd be too busy drinking all the alcohol on board to learn something like that.'_

Cana turned away with a sheepish grin before letting out a whistle, "Go let our man get some rest! I'll handle things up here! It'll be smooth sailing! Come on girls, let's get to work!"

Cana activated her Sexy Lady Card, summoning the girls to work the positions previously occupied by Naruto's shadow clones.

"Now, where to geezer?" she asked turning to Virgil, only to find the man had passed out with a huge nosebleed at the sight of all the girls.

"Fuckin perv..." grumbled Cana with a twitching eyebrow. "Can I get a cleanup crew over here!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A few hours later Erza found herself on the top deck enjoying a slice of red velvet cake with extra frosting and admiring Cana's handling of the ship. She was a little surprised at how well Cana ran things, she admitted to the brunette that in some aspects she was better than their blond boyfriend. Before cutting herself another slice of cake, the redhead decided to head below deck and check on Naruto as Cana's summoned sexy ladies suddenly broke out into song for no apparent reason. Erza reasoned it must be something about working on ship because Naruto's clones often did the same thing. She descended into the captain's quarters to find the blond still fast asleep despite all the noise from up above. They'd long discovered that Naruto was a heavy sleeper, nothing less than a full powered punch to the head could interrupt his dreams. She contemplated joining him for a quick nap herself, when Naruto rolled over onto his back and suddenly gave her other ideas. The blond ex-ninja was apparently having a pleasant dream as his cock appeared to be trying to pitch a tent through his underwear with the blanket on top of him.

"Lick it more Mira-chan..." Naruto mumbled in his sleep.

"Perhaps, I should make you pay for that..." muttered Erza as she subconsciously licked her lips.

They'd constantly been on the move since Virgil had come on board, unable to anchor and have a repeat performance of their nightly activities from the first day of their trip. She suspected the Cana and Naruto had sneaked away for some fun of their own in the kitchens a few days ago, but with her still giving Naruto the cold shoulder she hadn't afforded herself the same opportunity. However, with her blond lover now laying there fast asleep and flying his dick at full mast, she didn't want to waste this opportunity. She quickly relieved herself of her casual armor, before approaching the bed. She slipped herself underneath the covers, crouching herself right on top of Naruto's thighs, as she pulled back his boxers to reveal her prize. Just before she could get started, the ship suddenly lurched throwing her off the bed and onto the floor face first.

"I take back what I said earlier Cana..." grumbled Erza as she stood back up and moved back towards bed. She slipped back under the blankets and on top of Naruto, rolling the still sleeping blond back onto his back. She ripped the boxers off his body this time, letting her fully erect prize hang out. She grasped the rock hard member and leaned her open mouth down right above it, when the ship lurched again, even more violently than before, knocking her backwards off the bed and onto her ass. She then heard the sound of canon fire followed by some loud shouting above deck.

"We're under attack..." said Erza aloud as suddenly she leaped to her feet and stood completely still. In his sleep Naruto shivered and wrapped himself tighter into his blanket as the temperature dropped about thirty degrees. In a flash she was back inside of her casual armor and storming up to the top deck.

"Someone is going to pay for this interruption." growled the enraged redhead.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"What the hell is going on up here?" questioned Erza in a deceptively calm voice. Erza was greeted with the sight of three pirate battleships under a single insignia surrounding them and several of these Blue Rock Pirates already having boarded their ship. The man who appeared to the leader of this motley crew was standing in the spot where she was eating her cake earlier, some frosting dripping off his cheek. All the pirates turned to face the new arrival and had a shiver run up their spine at the sight of her. A dark shadow loomed over her head, leaving only a pair of glowing red eyes visible as an aura of death permeated the area.

"These morons decided to attack our ship," began Cana before she pointed over to the captain. "And their beloved captain Arqua has decided to claim the rest of your cake."

"Not just the cake! All you women now belong to us!" proclaimed the blue haired captain, not realizing that the ships crew members were merely Cana's magical summons.

"You want that cake? My cake?" asked Erza, still using her deceptively calm tone.

Not realizing the magnitude of the situation, Captain Arqua mouthed off one more time. "Ha! Silly girl, I told you this is my cake now!" he declared while grabbing the rest of it, and swallowing it in one bite.

"Mmmm...Mmmmm Bitch! That was real good!" he announced while licking his lips.

"I certainly hope it was, because it's going to be the last thing you ever taste." declared Erza as her death aura suddenly tripled in its intensity.

Arqua stared at her with a stupefied expression, "Wha?"

In the blink of and eye, Erza requipped her Heaven's Wheel Armor and had all two hundred of her swords aimed at the opposing forces and stood in front Arqua with the blades in her own hands at his throat. There wasn't time for confusion and panic to sink in for the Blue Rock Pirates, all they felt was a world of pain.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Erza leaped back on board the ship, marching past the shell shocked form of Virgil with stacks of all sorts of cakes in one arm and barrels of alcohol in the other. Behind her was the image of the three sinking and burning vessels belonging to the Blue Rock Pirates.

"Who are you people?" blurted Virgil as he glanced back and forth between Erza and the wreckage sites in disbelief.

"We're Fairy Tail." replied Cana with shrug, as if it explained everything. She then snatched a barrel of rum from Erza's arms as she walked past.

The redhead paused momentarily, "I trust there will be no more interruptions."

The brunette picked up on the tone of the redhead and realized that she didn't need to add the cake incentive earlier, "Yeah, no more interruptions to your _naptime_."

Erza replied with an affirmative grunt as she marched down below deck.

Cana shook her head, _'Naruto might be better off sleeping through this one...'_

"All that from waking her up from a nap?" exclaimed Virgil in exasperation.

"Yeah..." snorted Cana as she held back a giggle at both the real reason Erza was so pissed and the memory of the sight of all those men abandoning ship and running for their lives.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The entire Blue Rock pirate crew continued to furiously paddle their way as far away from Erza as possible in their overcrowded safety boats. Arqua sat in the middle of the head boat having just finished receiving some medical attention.

"What now captain?" complained the man next to him, who was paddling like his life depended on it.

Arqua just glared the fool for a moment before grunting as he kicked him overboard, and then growling from the back of his throat as he tried to rip his hair out in frustration. He would have let out a string of curses, but Erza had cut out his tongue and flicked it off the tip of her blade into the sea.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X  
By the next morning Naruto was fully recovered, refreshed, and back at the helm of the ship with a big smile on his face. They now had the target destination of Galuna Island in their sights and just as Naruto was about to command his clones to prepare for docking, Virgil said something that made him pause.

"We're not too far out now." said Virgil as he peered out, shielding his eyes from the bright sun.

"What are you talking about? We're here. This is the cursed Island Galuna." responded Naruto.

"Galuna? This isn't the cursed Island! The villagers here are all just a bunch of idiots!" ranted Virgil.

"Our friends came here to Galuna, it's where the S-class job was." explained Cana.

Virgil waved off their concerns, "Your friends aren't in any trouble. This place is harmless."

"Well, how far is this real 'cursed' island then?" questioned Naruto with a finger quotes emphasis on the word cursed.

"A few notches south of Galuna. As soon as you get over the horizon from here, it's two clicks away." answered Virgil.

"Fine, Erza you can handle business here. After you rip Natsu, Happy, Gray, and Lucy a new one, you'll probably end up finishing the job yourself. We'll handle this other island and pick you up on the way back. I doubt it will be anything approaching S-class, since no one has made a report of it or request for it." stated Naruto.

"Glad you came around to my way of thinking." she whispered to him before placing a kiss on his cheek and exiting the ship by jumping off the ledge and landing on the sandy shores. The redhead closed her eyes and took a deep breath to compose herself. The minute she opened them, an aura of death surrounded her as she streaked across the land in search of her wayward comrades. Elsewhere on the island Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy, collectively felt a spontaneous shiver of fear run down their spines.

* * *

And, another chapter is in the books! As you can tell I'm skipping over the Galuna Island arc, Naruto will have his own cursed Island to deal with next chapter. After that is resolved, the war with Phantom Lord will kick off with a bang. I haven't decided if one of the Ronin Warlord armors will be picked up by Naruto next chapter, but Kyuubi's armor will definitely be making an appearance soon. Happy Holidays Everyone!


	8. Legends of the Hidden Temple

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything

* * *

**Legends of the Hidden Temple  
**

Naruto zoomed in at high speed and a low level, flying just barely above the water and leaving a huge wake behind him. Not to long after departing Galiluna Island, Naruto enhanced senses picked up a familiar magical signature at the location they were approaching. The reason why this person was located in the area was quickly revealed as the faint scent of the taint of dark magic entered his nostrils. It seemed that Virgil had not been wrong about a cursed island after all. Quickly taking stock of the situation, Naruto ordered Cana to turn the ship around, catch up with Erza, and not to wait up for him.

"I'm not going to let you go off on some wild goose chase with no back up." firmly stated Cana.

"In this case, I am the back up. The old guy is already there, if I'm lucky, I'll get there before he's done." countered Naruto.

Cana blinked at him owlishly, "Oh."

He gave her a quick peck on the lips before ex-quipping the armor of the Strata and taking to the air. The news that the 'old guy' was there caught Cana completely by surprise. The brunette shook her head with a knowing look, _'Even Erza would have a tough time keeping up with those two. I thought he was supposed to be on some epic long mission anyway...'_

After the island came into view, Naruto released his armor and created a dozen shadow clones. In mid-air the clones transformed into a flock of birds and scattered as they approached the Island. Naruto dropped to the water and sprinted the remaining distance across the sea until he reached land. As Naruto stepped onto land he spotted a small docking area that appeared to be recently vacated. Off to the left of the dock was a empty beach area. Just beyond the sandy beach of the island, a light gray mist had set in amongst the forest making long distance visibility somewhat difficult.

_'Well that's odd...'_ thought Naruto as he observed the trees just beyond the sandy shores. Despite it being completely out of season for such a thing, the leaves on the various branches had turned colors. The ground was littered with red, yellow, and brown leaves as if it was the fall the season.

"I'll worry about that later." muttered Naruto as he set off jumping through the trees. At he continued at a fast pace for several minutes until he reached a break in the trees. He came across a wide dirt pathway that separated the forest in two. One of his clones dispelled and he quickly turned and went left. He leaped through the trees, keeping parallel with the pathway for a couple kilometers before coming to a halt.

_'I can't sense anyone else around this area at all.'_ thought Naruto from his perch on a large branch as he extended all his senses outward. A clone then dispersed again, sending back another wave of information. Naruto crossed the path to the other set of trees and headed north for about a dozen kilometers where the mist finally thinned out. It was here he came across a small abandoned settlement his clone had discovered. On the surface, the small village appeared to have been deserted only recently. The various small shelters were in decent condition and still warm. The irrigation system was also flush with water and there was small pond off to the left that was filled with fish. One thing was odd, there didn't seem to be a wild animal nor even insect anywhere close. However, with scent of the dark taint much stronger now, than previously Naruto knew better than to take anything at face value. The more troubling fact was that it seeming the dark presence seemed rooted within the Island itself. The remaining visible vegetation was discolored, mutated, and most likely hazardous to health. Anything that was usable seemed to have already been harvested by the inhabitants before they departed. Naruto flared his nostrils trying to pick up any lingering scents in the area. It was faint, but there was a lingering scent of cheap cologne and pocky leading off to the east. Ex-quipping into the Strata Armor again, Naruto took back to the skies, gaining an aerial view as he followed the scent. From overhead, the further he got out he could see the trees look more and more dead. By the time he reached the golden grass covered hills, the trees at the edges of the forest had petrified into dark stone. The soil around these trees was dried up and all in all, it looked as if the land itself had died. Once on the other side off the golden brown hills, Naruto followed the scent down a stream that lead to the waterfall at the base of a giant rock formation. Off to the right side of the waterfall, was a large outcropping of land. Here Naruto found the person he was looking for, the tall orange haired man pacing back in forth in front of a humongous oak tree.

"Yo! Old Man!" called out Naruto.

Gildarts didn't even acknowledge his presence, completely oblivious to everything around him except the papers in his hands. He continued pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself. Naruto reverted back to his normal battle attire as he landed, walking over to Gildarts, who still seemed to be completely oblivious to everything around him. Gildarts merely swatted at him in annoyance, a move that would have taken Naruto's head off if he didn't manage to dodge out of the way, a skill he quickly learned while dealing with the absentminded older mage.

"Hey! Watch it!" growled Naruto in annoyance.

This finally seemed to bring Gildarts back to the living world as he suddenly became around of his surroundings, "Oh, hey Naruto!"

He then went back to the papers in his hands. Naruto peered over his shoulder to trying to see what his reading, but all he caught a glimpse of was a paper full of odd symbols and drawings.

"So..." began Naruto, at a loss for words.

Gildarts turned back to him, "Huh?"

"Hey! Long time no see! Yeah! It has been a while hasn't it? How you been? Pretty good, how about you? Getting into and trouble and blasting my way out of it, you know the usual. How's the guild? Surprisingly still standing, you should stop by more often." rambled Naruto.

"Yeah, I think that about covers it." nodded Gildarts as if in agreement. He then reached into his tattered jacket and pulled out a box of pocky, "Pocky?"

Naruto briefly gave him a deadpan look before erupting, "Are you going to explain what you're doing out here, standing in front what has got to be the biggest damn tree in world, on some completely random cursed island, reading gibberish, smack dab in the middle of absolutely no where!"

Gildarts gave him a blank look before the gears in head seemingly started to churn again, "Oh! Yeah, that would probably be a good idea."

_'Still as absentminded as ever.'_ thought Naruto with a snort of annoyance.

"I owed someone a favor." simply replied Gildarts, as if that statement explained it all.

"And?" asked Naruto, looking for some elaboration.

"I ran into a little trouble on that mission I left on. An old friend saved my ass, so I return I'm doing this for her. This is one of her home village's two islands. The migrate back and forth between the two islands depending on the season. Sometime during a time where they vacated the island years ago, someone used it to hide some sort of dark artifact. At first it wasn't noticeable, but as you can probably see, over the years dark magic has had and adverse effect on the land. She and her grandfather have done most of the leg work in figuring out how to get to it, I'm just here for the smash and grab." explained Gildarts.

"What do you mean by leg work?" asked Naruto.

"There's some sort of code. She encountered a similar job to what has happened here in another place. To reach the artifact, you have to pass through some type of strange maze like Temple. The passageways and doors are sealed by the strange symbols and glyphs, and you need activate the right ones in the right pattern in order to unseal the doors. This is on top the expected death traps." responded Gildarts.

"Sounds like fun!" exclaimed Naruto.

If finally dawned on Gildarts, "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Some, senile old man ranting and raving about a cursed Island. Turns out it was cursed, just not in the way he said it was." answered Naruto.

Gildarts gave him a blank look, "Eh, what?"

"Natsu stole an S-class job, and went off on it with some other non S-class mages. Erza came out here to rip them all a new one. They're on another Island not to far away. I sensed you and sniffed out the dark stank, decided to come and see if it was worth my while." elaborated Naruto.

"Poor Natsu." commented Gildarts.

Naruto shrugged, "Meh, Erza just likes to mother hen him."

"So what are you doing right now?" questioned Naruto.

"Looking for the entrance to a hidden tunnel. The key is supposed to be this tree..." replied a frowning Gildarts, being drawn back into the papers in his hand.

Gildarts continued pacing around the area in deep thought. It was as if he was missing just that one last piece of puzzle, and it was driving him insane. He pulled out the text and the map again, going over it again for what seemed to be the one hundredth time, trying to find whatever it was that he was missing.

Naruto took it upon himself to scan around the area for anything his companion might have missed, despite having no clue what he was actually looking for. As he expected, the blond found nothing out of the ordinary. Quickly becoming bored with the entire fiasco, Naruto sought to amuse himself by playing target practice with his weapons. Spotting a moss covered knot in the trunk of the tree, about three quarter the way up, he whipped out a couple shuriken and took aim. To his surprise the bladed stars simply bounced off his target, unable to embed themselves in the tree. Gildarts glanced up at where they struck momentarily, before rolling his eyes and turning back to his work. A slightly annoyed Naruto took out a few more shuriken, and this time put some more 'umph' behind his throws. However, he was rewarded with exactly the same the result.

"What the hell?" he muttered to himself. "Alright, no more fooling around."

This time he took aim with a Kunai, aiming to make the center of the knot his bulls-eye and fired. The knife didn't even make a scratch in the bark.

"You sure this is a real tree? Not some big fake metal replica?" questioned Naruto.

Gildarts snorted, "I'm surprised you even know what a replica is."

Naruto gave him a death glare before turning his attention back to the tree. All was quiet for the moment, until Naruto summoned a dozen shadow clones and they all unleashed a barrage of weaponry at the tree. These weapons quickly met the same fate as their predecessors, clanging off the seemingly impenetrable bark and falling uselessly to the ground. The bulging vein on Naruto's forehead twitched so furiously, Gildarts figured it was a miracle he didn't have an aneurysm.

"That's it! I've had it! This tree is going down!" declared Naruto, pointing an accusing finger at the tree.

Gildarts started rolling along the ground in laughter at the absurdity of the entire situation until he realized that Naruto had ex-quipped the Armor of the Strata and was taking aim at the tree with the Armor's ultimate move.

"No don't!" he yelled at Naruto, but it was too late.

"Eat this! **Arrow Shockwave!**" roared Naruto as he fired the attack. The supercharged blast of wind magic hit the knot of the tree dead on, triggering an explosion on impact. Gildarts stared upon the smoking tree in horror, which quickly turned to shock as the smoke cleared. Instead of being completely obliterated, there was only three meter hole clean through the trunk, where the knot used to be.

"You idiot, you could have ruined the whole..." began Gildarts only to stop because of a large rumbling sound. At the base of the tree, a five-by-two meter section of the trunk sunk in a few inches before sliding upwards, revealing a hidden passageway that lead underground.

"Well all I be damned..." muttered Gildarts in awe.

"Ha! Knew it was a fake! Let's go! Woot! Temple of death traps here I come!" cheered Naruto as he released his armor and ran down the passage.

Gildarts just shook his head before scrambling after him grumbling, "That bastard has all the damn luck..."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The passageway led the duo deep underground into a long winding tunnel. The walk was tedious, but it left plenty of time for the two to catch up.

"So what happened to your arm?" asked Naruto.

A grin formed on the older mage's face, "I'm surprise you noticed."

The madly twitching vein above Naruto's eyebrow made its presence know once again, "Do I look like Natsu to you?"

"Your mannerisms are very similar." replied a shrugging Gildarts.

Naruto shrugged back, "I blame Igneel and Bahamut."

"Did Bahamut say anything to you before he disappeared?" questioned Naruto.

"Yeah, not to tarnish the great name of the Dragon King." grunted Naruto. "He said that he'd be gone for a while and not to go looking for him. He'd met up with Igneel before they up and vanished, he passed along the message to take a more hands on approach in training Natsu. I don't really know why. Yeah he's still kind of raw, but he's gets way stronger from just fighting battles than anything I've taught him."

"Think about it this way, what would Natsu be doing instead with all the time you took to teach him?" asked Gildarts.

"Probably running around looking for Igneel- OOOOh. Ha! I guess the wisdom does come with that gray hair." taunted Naruto.

"Gray! Where!" shouted Gildarts as he pulled a mirror out nowhere and started checking out his hair until he heard Naruto's laughter. Naruto ducked as Gildarts arm passed through the space his head just occupied.

"Watch it!" grumbled Naruto. "Last time you smacked me in the back of the head, you forgot to turn off that crazy magic of yours. I was in the hospital for a week!"

"Did I? My bad." shrugged Gildarts.

Naruto eyes widened in understanding, "You didn't forget. You did it on purpose!"

Gildarts grinned, _'And I was paid handsomely for that job! Apparently he didn't figure out that the entire guild took out an S-class to put him in the hospital for a week as revenge for his pranks.'_ He then quickly changed the subject, "To answer you earlier question, I lost my arm when I fought a black dragon."

"Whaaaaa?" was Naruto's clever response.

"I lost more than my arm too." continued Gildarts as he pulled back part of his jacket to reveal even more damage done to his body. "Lost an arm, a leg, and half my liver. That's why I asked you about Bahamut."

"Trying to figure out why a dragon would try to kill you." mumbled Naruto. "Maybe he was hungry?"

Gildarts sweat-dropped, _'Maybe Natsu get's it from him.'_

Gildarts changed the subject again before Naruto's mind could wander off to other nonsense reasons about why the dragon attacked him, "So did you and that crazy Mirajane ever get together? Or was it the redhead that was always following you around?"

_'Which redhead?'_ thought Naruto with smirk. "I'm with Mirajane."

"Nice-" started Gildarts, but Naruto cut him off.

"And Erza and Kyu and Cana too." finished Naruto with a smirk.

Gildarts froze in his tracks, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a minute. I know I've been gone for a while, but you're with four girls?"

"Yup." replied a nodding Naruto with a smug look.

"And they all know about each other?" questioned Gildarts with an incredulous look on his face.

"Yup." nodded Naruto again.

Gildarts dropped to his knees at the feet of Naruto, "Teach me, oh wise and omniscient master. Show this wayward soul the ways of enlightenment."

"Huh. You know, master did the same exact thing when he found out. You really are getting old." stated Naruto.

"I am not that old!" retorted an annoyed Gildarts.

Naruto gave him a pat on the shoulder, "Sorry to brake it to you sempai, but most of the guild doesn't even refer to you by name. They just call you 'that old guy'. Even I had to switch the master from old man to gramps. Besides, I bet you been playing that wise-old mentor card with some kids to hook up with some MILFs."

The orange haired mage let out a deep chuckle, "You have no idea."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Some time later, the tunnel ended, dropping them at the doorsteps of what Naruto aptly described as 'The Underground Temple of Doom'. Elegant statues of gargoyle like creatures decorated the entrance. Larger versions of the hieroglyphic symbols decorated the outer walls of the doorway, while the door was covered in hundreds of small versions them. Finally at a point where the work was already done for them, Gildarts swiftly activated the eight symbols on the door to provide them entrance to their grand adventure. What ensued was a veritable cornucopia of puzzles, death pits, dead ends, cave ins, and all sorts of other hindrances one might find in an early Indiana Jones Movie. Thanks to skill, craftiness, luck, brute force, and mainly sending shadow clones off to their deaths by the dozens, Naruto and Gildarts managed to navigate their way through 'The Temple of Doom' nealry unscathed.

_(Somewhere after avoiding bottomless pit number twelve and ceiling of doom number five)_

Gildarts took a step forward and suddenly the stone beneath his foot sunk into the ground. The entire room started to quake violently as a trap activated. The eyes on the two stone golems guarding the next doorway glowed as they came to life. The room started shaking as the two club wielding golems trudged forward, unleashing a pair of earth shattered swings at Naruto and Gildarts. The orange haired mage and the blond dodged to the left and right respectively, allowing clubs to split large cracks in the floor where they previously stood. Gildarts moved quickly, activating his crash on the golem via a palm thrust and shattering the being into a pile of rubble. On the other side of the room, Naruto quickly ex-quipped his Hard Rock Armor and nailed his golem with a bone shattering punch that reduced it to a pile of stones as well.

"Well that was easy." muttered Naruto.

Gildarts eyes narrowed, "Yeah, far too easy."

No sooner did he speak these words, did the two piles of rubble start to shake, and in a blink of an eye, the lumbering golems were reformed and on the move again.

"Well, that's annoying." deadpanned Naruto.

"Perhaps this requires a different approach." said Gildarts as he lifted his hand and to cast his disassembly magic only to be halted by Naruto.

"If you do that spell, that will probably just turn two golems into fifty golems. We don't need to destroy them, just immobilize them. Keep them busy for a couple minutes." commanded Naruto as to Gildarts surprise, the orange armored mage sunk underground.

"Did not know he could do that." murmured a mildly impressed Gildarts, who quickly leap backward to dodge a blow from a golem.

"These things are painfully slow, but damn strong." he observed ducking a blow from the other golem. This continued on with Gildarts patiently and effortlessly dodging the golems until when he moved to dodge a punch, the golem in front of him dropped out of site. He turned to face it's partner only for it to vanish as well. He looked down to spot two holes in the ground, neither he could see the bottom of.

"Neat trick." he commented casually as Naruto reemerged from below ground.

Naruto merely shrugged in response as he released the armor once back above ground. The two made their way to the door which was once again covered in symbols. Gildarts activated five symbols in a counterclockwise pattern, and the door slid open. Naruto summoned forth five shadow clones and sent them ahead to wipe out any traps. They resumed their game of gin they'd started earlier when waiting for clones to clear out traps. They were at it for about fifteen minutes until the clones dispelled and sent back a wave of information.

"Ooh, that was tricky." said Naruto.

Gildarts raised an eyebrow, "What happened this time?"

"Completely real looking fake floor over a bottomless pit." replied Naruto.

Gildarts gave him a blank look, "Huh?"

Naruto waved him off, "You'll see in a minute. I have to admit the lulling us into a false sense of security with the golems, and then dropping this behind it? Whoever made this was good, probably one hell of a prankster."

At Gildarts sudden outburst in laughter, Naruto gave him a curious look, "What?"

"Nothing." he gasped back between laughs.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

After traveling along a dirt path, Naruto put a hand up to halt them as the two mages came to where the floor became stone.

"Watch." stated Naruto as he created a dozen shadow clones and sent them out on the stone path. The results were bizarre to say the least. A pair clones sunk through the floor on their first step, while others made it farther. One who had set off in a dead sprint made it about halfway before he dropped through the floor. Another clone trying to be smart about it, slowly followed a path where he'd seen his brethren take steps safely, only to meet the same fate on a supposed safe spot. Gildarts let out a chuckle at yells of the various clones plummeting to their deaths.

"THIS FUCKING SUUUCKKKKKKKKKKKKSSSSS!"

"SCREW YOU BOSSSSSSSSS!"

"I LOVE MIRA-CHAN'S BOOOOOOOOOBBBBBIIIEEESSSSSS!"

Despite the presence of a low ceiling the remaining clones tried ninja style, long distance leaps. A couple miscalculated and bounced off of the ceiling at bad angles to their deaths. Others just didn't get high enough off the ground and dropped off into oblivion. One managed to make the perfect jump, and seemed to have made a safe landing only for the floor to give way at the last second as he attempted his second leap.

"This is one tricky illusion. It's safe to say it's impossible to walk across this floor safely." declared Gildarts.

"Yeah, the floor..." muttered Naruto as he pondered the problem. After a few moments of silence, proverbial light bulb went off for both of them.

"To hell with the floor!" they both announced simultaneously.

Nodding at one another, they both turned and walked up the walls until they were standing on the ceiling and walked over the death trap.

"You know, I didn't even know that you could do this." commented Naruto casually.

Gildarts shrugged, "After seeing you run up the sides of walls and whatnot to escape the wrath of Mira when you were younger, I figured it be a useful skill to have."

"Yeah..." suddenly Naruto gained a far off glazed look in his eye that Gildarts recognized all to well.

"So how was it?" asked a grinning Gildarts.

"How was what?" replied Naruto

"I know that look. You've done it upside down on a ceiling with Mirajane." said Gildarts with a knowing look.

Naruto eyes nealry popped out of his head, "When you said it would be a useful skill, you meant-"

"Yep!" responded Gildarts with a hearty chuckle.

"Ah man! I thought I was the first." grumbled Naruto.

"No worries, this book even taught me a few new moves. I'm sure you have a few originals." said Gildarts as he pulled out a copy of Icha Icha.

Naruto bit back a chuckle, "Despite popular opinion, that book is not about me. Nor is it written by me."

"Yeah right."

"I'm serious."

"Well, if not you, then who?"

"Lisanna."

"Bullshit."

"It's true."

"Sweet little Lisanna?"

"She hasn't been sweet little Lisanna for a while now. Ask Natsu."

"Ha! Way to go Natsu!"

"Yeah."

Then he realized the implications of the book in his hands, "Oh man. WAY TO GO NATSU!"

"Yep. Well I do take some credit, as you know sisters do talk. And I am a few years older..."

Gildarts started snickering, "Naruto, you do realize then that indirectly, this book is about you."

"Dammit." cursed Naruto.

They easily made their way to the next door, dropping down from the ceiling once they reached the platform on the other side of the trap door. However, this time after Gildarts activated the glyphs, the two were forced to leap to the side back as several tiles on the platform beneath them gave way to a trap door as the door in front of them also opened at the same time.

"Well this is new." muttered Gildarts.

"What? It's just another trap." reasoned Naruto.

"Yeah, but which one is the trap?" replied Gildarts.

Naruto scratched his chin as he pondered the question, "Well, any reasonable person would skip the trap door and keep going forward, but the trap door was very obvious. Anyone would have dodged it on reflex alone...which means we should probably take the trap door."

"Exactly, but we should make sure." advised Gildarts.

"Right." replied Naruto as he sent out another squad of clones.

It was only a minute and a half later when Naruto suddenly paled as he gained the feedback from the clones.

"What happened?" asked Gildarts.

"Dead end, everything went dark, and then they were all crushed to death by spikes." mumbled Naruto. "One clone only barely managed to dispel himself before death by giant spike to the crotch."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The tunnel slide from the trap door, dropped them into a trap of a different sorts. The light haired duo stood back to back with their arms folded across their chests, surveying the scenes in front of them. On Naruto's side it was a army of faceless shadow soldiers, dressed in dark blue shinobi like uniforms. From wall to wall, they were armed to the teeth with weaponry and poised to strike. On Gildarts side two seemingly steroid enhanced, muscle bound faceless shadow giants loomed. They were more than twice the size of the larger mage.

"Well, it looks like they got us surrounded." announced Gildarts.

"That they do." nonchalantly replied Naruto.

"Your choice, the army or the big guys?" questioned the older mage.

"I always say, the more the merrier." answered a grinning Naruto.

Gildarts chuckled, "With your love life, I can see that."

Naruto leaped high, straight up into the air to give himself some room as he formed an all to familiar cross-shaped hand seal.

**"Tajuu Kage Bushin No Jutsu!"** An army of clones armed to the teeth with katanas, bo-staffs, spears, kunai, fuuma shuriken, or with rasengans in hand rained down upon assembled shadow warriors.

"And here we..." the spear wielding, original Naruto whispered to himself as he descended to the ground. It was as if everything around him was moving in slow motion.

**"BOOM!" **One suicidal clone decided to get the party started by peppering himself with explosive tags.

"Go!" yelled Naruto as disarmed the Katana wielding warrior in front of him. One quick swipe and the beheaded warrior fell to ground as he moved on to the next one. After dispatching three more in rapid succession, Naruto was really starting to feel it. The blond moved with both ferocity and precision as he made short work of five more warriors in the blink of an eye.

"SHOW NO MERCY!" bellowed Naruto as he dropped another soldier by impaling it's head on his spear.

"HOO-RAH!" chanted the clones in response.

_(With Gildarts)_

The moment Naruto leaped into the air, Gildarts dove at the closest shadow giant, shoulder tackling him into the other one in the process. The duo flew across the room into the far wall, allowing the orange haired mage to create some space between himself and the complete and utter free-for-all behind him. The shadow giants charged him, one lagging slightly behind the other. Gildarts used his crash magic to make a pothole in the ground, tripping the first giant, before leaping at the chest of the second and delivering a rapid-fire volley of punches to its chest. He finished of the sequence with the round house kick that leveled the enemy in front of him before fluidly leaping back and grabbing the incoming second opponent by the neck and pile-driving him into the ground head first.

_'He's fast.'_ thought Gildarts and he bent backwards and nealry a ninety degree angle to dodge a swipe. He then placed his hand on the ground to balance himself as he cartwheeled in to kick to its solar plexus while simultaneously dodging a punch from the other giant that left a crater in the ground.

Gildarts eyes narrowed as one of his punches was dodged,_ 'As this has dragged on they seem to be getting both faster and stronger. At first I was feeling them out, but now they are making me work a little bit.'_

As if right on cue, one of his punches was deflected and he was nailed with an elbow to the chest that knocked him off balance. The other shadow giant capitalized on the opening, executed a full body slam on the orange haired mage. Gildarts managed to shake of the blow like it was nothing, knocking the giant of him and dodging the incoming choke hold attempt from it's partner. Taking advantage of the opening, Gildarts activated crash right on the center of it's back, vaporizing the the top half of it's body. The bottom half of it's body toppled over momentarily, before jumping upright as its missing torso, arms, and head reformed.

_'That's kind of annoying.'_ thought Gildarts.

He suddenly dodged to the left, avoiding Naruto hurtling through the air in the process of decapitating a pair of shadow soldiers with a sword.

"You having any luck with these guys?" asked Gildarts.

"They aren't difficult to fight, it's just I can't figure out how to destroy them." complained Naruto. "Except for this one time after they got caught in an explosion, every time we destroy them they just regenerate a minute or two later. We tried blowing them up, but it hasn't been that effective."

_'Explosion...That's it!'_ Gildarts shook his head for not realizing it sooner. "They are shadow warriors, their weakness is obviously going to be light. Your explosion made it bright enough momentarily to weaken them enough to be destroyed. One long bright flash of light will probably vaporize them completely."

"Long bright flash? We've got it covered." he replied before dispelling.

"Of course it was a clone." muttered Gildarts.

In the middle of the fray the original Naruto's and few clones took out some tags and wrapped them around kunai before chucking them into the ceiling. Eight knives stabbed into the stone in circular pattern and few seconds later their tags went off.

**"LET THERE BE LIGHT!"** chorused the army of Naruto's as all the flash tags went off simultaneously.

A blinding white light enveloped the room and Naruto, the clones, and Gildarts all closed their eyes. The shadow beings all disintegrated into nothingness under the light. With the battle complete, Naruto dismissed his clones. He and Gildarts turned at the sound of the door to the next room opening. They marched forward, no need to worry about anymore games or traps. They'd reached their target destination, the temple shrine room. A brief moment of satisfaction passed between the two at finally reaching the end of their journey. Several large columns marked the pathway to an illuminated platform. Despite the artistic appearance of this shrine room, there was a foul stench coming from the illuminated platform on the back wall.

"What is that damn smell?" complained Gildarts as he held his shirt up over his nose.

"P-U! All this time I thought it was the taint of dark magic, but it's just a horrible stank! Like someone farted in a barrel of rotten eggs and dead fish! Maybe that's the power of the dark artifact." joked Naruto. "To stink bomb you into submission!"

"Then maybe you should be considered a dark artifact. You almost gave the guild a permastank with your damn pranks." muttered Gildartsas he rolled his eyes.

Naruto let out a wistful sigh, "Good times..."

As they reached the platform just in front of the far wall, and coincidentally where the stench was most potent, they found an elaborate shrine set up with torches and various things centered around one three foot statue, mounted to the wall. The statue depicted the mounted head of some sort of demon warlock. The in place of a face was a scowling a steel gray mask, with long white hair coming out the sides of the armored headdress.

When the duo strolled forward for a closer look, the eyes of the statue suddenly glowed red as a booming voice with a dark edge echoed from it,_** "I am the Dark Warlord Talpa! The right hand of Black Zeref! Through his power, I became the most feared warrior in the world! My reign of terror is without equal! Bow down before me, and I may show you the true meaning of darkness!"**_

"Did that statue just talk?" blurted Naruto.

"Just as she expected." muttered Gildarts as he had his friends notes back in his hands. "Another one of the dark artifacts of Zeref."

Naruto snorted, "At least it's more bad ass than that lullaby thing."

"Yeah, I heard about you guys putting a stop to that flute thing." chuckled Gildarts.

_**"DO NOT IGNORE ME!"**_ bellowed Talpa. His eyes glowed more intensely as suddenly the entrance to the final room slammed shut, and several columns descended from the ceiling to block the way back to the door.

Oddly enough they all thudded in a sequence producing the sound, 'Dun-Da-Da-Dun-Dun', prompting Gildarts and Naruto to exclaim, "Two Bits!"

_**"Fools! Submit to me now or face my wrath!" **_bellowed Talpa._**  
**_

Naruto snorted, "Fat chance. You're nothing more than a statue now. You and your master are nothing more than relics of the past."

Gildarts stepped forward, to get a better since of what they were dealing with. He wasn't impressed, "A relic that shall easily be exorcised. Your years of being sealed away have reduced the strength of your magic to no more than that of a child mage."

"I think he's even weaker than that Lullaby monster." added Naruto.

_**"Then perhaps your magic shall be my gateway back to this world!"**_ bellowed Talpa as the statue started to shake.

At the last second Naruto substituted himself with Gildarts, the elder mage only able to look on in horror as the black smoke started pouring out of the mouth of the statue, coiling around Naruto like a snake. The dark smoke lifted him off the ground and squeezed his chest, causing Naruto the cry out in pain. The minute his mouth opened, the black smoke started flooding into his body.

Gildarts cursed himself for being caught off guard. His friend had warned of a different type of threat to expect from the source of the dark magic, but he should have known better. The older mage was unable to do anything to aid his young friend as the smoke poured down his throat, attacking his body from the inside. After initially struggling against the black smoke, Naruto's body went limp and the entirety of his eyes turned the same shade of black as the dark smoke. As the smoke finished pouring into body, Naruto dropped back to ground. His body hunched over with his head facing the ground, until it started trembling. Gildarts looked on with a puzzled expression as a dull chuckle started to emanate from his friend. The chuckling soon morphed into full blown maniacal laughter as Naruto whipped his head upward.

_**"Finally! I have regained a body after all these years! Talpa has returned!" **_bellowed Naruto/Talpa. The voice coming from the possessed body sounded like an amalgamation between the two.

_**"HUU-AHH!"**_ roared the possessed Naruto as his body became enveloped by a dark column of magical energy. Gildarts shielded his eyes as debris kicked up all around him, and braced himself as the shock waves from the energy release hit him.

"Man, he's even stronger than I expected him to be." murmured Gildarts.

The energy died down to reveal Naruto decked out in an armor Gildarts had never seen before. The dark green armor possessed spiky shoulder pads and a reddish-orange chest plate. Two katanas were mounted on the back of the armor and four more were attached to the waist. Each possessed a gold hilt, and the two on the back possessed a special hilt and pummel design that looked like snakes. Black lightning crackled around his body as the possessed Naruto stared down Gildarts with glowing eyes from behind the silver faceplate of his helmet.

"This is new..." mumbled a slightly puzzled Gildarts.

_**"How unfortunate for you, this boy's body is the perfect vessel for handling my power! Yes, that old dragon Bahamut did well with this one!"**_ roared the Talpa-possessed Naruto as he let out an evil cackle. _**"Tremble mortal, at the power of the Warlord of Venom!"**_

Despite Talpa's boast Gildarts quickly realized the significance behind his fellow mage's actions, _'There's no way that little punk realized in that short amount of time that if it took over his body I would still be able to stop him, but vice versa, not so much. He's pretty sharp, but he's no genius. Those are some damn good instincts. Now, despite what this guy thinks, he's still only as strong as Naruto is in any one of his regular armors. Which means, he also has a weakness. Now to find it and exploit it without killing Naruto.'_

Talpa quickly drew a pair of blades from his waist, blurring from his location and reappearing directly in front of Gildarts. The orange haired mage ducked a decapitating slash from one blade before chopping down on his other arm, forcing Talpa to drop the second the sword. Gildarts then launched a palm thrust at the chest plate of his snake armored friend/foe, only to have it avoided by him twisting out of the way at an unnatural angle. Talpa picked up the his blade before leaping back to put some distance between himself and Gildarts. His blades suddenly gained a dark purple tint as he slashed them at Gildarts, sending two streams of venom at his opponent. Gildarts dodged them easily, but took notice as the toxic poison easily eroded away at everything it touched like a highly corrosive acid.

"Well that answers where that putrid smell was coming from." muttered Gildarts as darted to the left to avoid another stream of venom.

Gildarts vanished from view and reappeared in front of Talpa. The orange-haired mage went on the offensive in close combat to hamper the ranged abilities of Talpa with the venom. He hammered two punches into the armor's chest plate before sweeping his legs out from underneath him and pile driving him into the ground. Talpa struggled to his feet, his left arm dislocated and both legs completely mangled from the attack.

"Had enough?" asked Gildarts.

_**"Fool! You can cut off the tail of a snake, but then it just grows back!" **_taunted Talpa. His arm and legs healed at an alarming rate, with in seconds he was back to normal.

A devious grin spread across Gildarts face as his magical aura started to build up around him, "That's good to know. Now that I don't have to worry about any permanent damage, there's no need for me to hold back anymore."

* * *

A/N: Man, it has been a little while since I updated this story. I couldn't settle on where I wanted to go with this part of the arc at first, rewrote the beginning of this thing at least 3 or 4 times. Then a few days ago this idea came to me and everything just flowed. Writing can be a pain in the ass sometimes. Hopefully, the muse is here to stay for a while.


	9. Internal Affairs

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything

* * *

**Internal Affairs  
**

Talpa extracted the two blades from his waste and tossed them forward, where in midair they morphed into two elephant sized King Cobras. The massive hissing snakes darted forward at high speed, Gildarts leaped over the first snake's diving bite attempt and roundhouse kicked it in the back. The snake flew across the ground before violently slamming into a wall. The force of the collision created massive cracks across the entire wall. The second snake spewed a stream of poison at Gildarts, who dodged the corrosive attack and the snake's attempt to bind the S-class mage with its tail. Gildarts flipped the script on it, grabbing the cobra by the tail, spinning around rapidly in circle, and sending it crashing into the first snake just as it recovered.

Talpa leaped in the fray, unsheathing two more blades and unleashing a spinning slash to bisect Gildarts at the waist. Gildarts bend backwards at a nearly impossible angle to avoid the attack, and tried to sweep Talpa's feet out from underneath him. The armored Warlord back flipped to avoid being tripped up and put some distance between the two of them before stabbing his blade into the ground. For a second nothing happened, but the Gildarts heard a rumbling sound coming from underground and he leaped high into the air to avoid a geyser like blast of venom shooting up through the stone floor. Talpa attempted a sneak attack from his blind spot, but Gildarts caught the double slash with his left arm.

"Ah! What is this!" snarled Talpa as Gildarts blocked a follow up strike with his left forearm.

"This arm isn't my real arm." replied a grinning Gildarts.

Gildarts nailed him in the chin with a right handed uppercut that sent Talpa flying straight up into the air, "That's my real arm!"

Gildarts suddenly appeared in front of Talpa as he reached the apex of his flight and delivered an armor cracking punch with his left arm that sent Talpa hurtling back towards the ground where he crashed violently, getting buried under tons of rubble and debris.

The orange haired mage smirked at the sight below him, "That's my new arm. Any questions?"

The rubble and debris piled on top of Talpa corroded away into dust as the armored dark warrior emerged from the ground. He starred upon Gildarts with glowing red eyes that combined with the silver faceplate, made it difficult to even recognize the face as Naruto's anymore.

"You are quite formidable. Join me and I will make you a general in Zeref's army and grant you a taste of power unlike anything that you've every experienced!" offered Talpa.

Gildarts hadn't even been paying attention, muttering to himself as he scribbled away notes on a map he pulled out of nowhere, "Huh? What were we talking about?"

Talpa snarled at him, "Fool! Witness the true might of my power! Come forth spirits of the netherworld! Lend me your power! Dynasty shoulders arise and serve your master!"

Dozens of apparition like being shimmered into existence in the air above above Talpa. Each was dressed in violet priest-like ceremonial robes with ornate red necklaces around their necks. They possessed no legs, their bodies below the torso formed a ghost tail. The dynasty warriors rising from ground appeared to be shadow soldiers decked out in a blue and gray armor in a similar style to Naruto's own. They were armed to with spears, scythes, chain-sickles, tridents, and various other bladed weapons. About two dozen dynasty warriors stood in front of Gildarts while close to forty nether spirits hovered overhead when it was all said and done.

"Well aren't you just full of surprises." commented Gildarts offhandedly as he flared his magical aura again.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

While the battle between Gildarts and Talpa raged on in the real world, a separate set of foes went toe to toe in the recesses of Naruto's mind.

x-x-x-_Naruto's Mind Scape: A Short Time Ago_-x-x-x

"Where are you! You can't hide forever!" called out a figure shrouded in darkness as he streaked through the sewer like caverns that were the mental defenses of one Naruto Uzumaki. For every step the man took, the tan stone of the ceiling and walls he passed by turned to black and the water on the sewer floor turned into a dark purple acid like substance. His eyes lit up as finally found a door on the left hand wall.

"Ah finally! This is where you've been hiding! I promise this won't hurt...too much!" cackled the man as he opened the door and was enveloped in a bright red light.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"What the hell..." muttered the dark haired man as he sat up after regaining consciousness. "What happened...Where am I?"

The last thing he remembered was opening the door, then the bright red light, and then absolutely nothing. He took a look around his surroundings and found nothing of familiarity. He set on a slightly inclined portion of a rocky slope. The temperature around him was both hot and humid. A gray smoke seemed to be swirling around through the air as he felt slight trembles coming from underground. The smoke made visibility further down what he now believed was a mountain. He stood up and looked up the incline and quickly corrected his previous assumption, he standing just below the summit of a smoking volcano.

"So maybe this one has some serious mental defenses..." he muttered to himself.

Suddenly a cloaked figure shot out the volcano and blurred down the side of it, tackling the man and pinning him up against the rocks with a kunai to his neck. The hood of the cloak suddenly blew back from a burst of wind, revealing the snarling form of Naruto.

"You certainly managed to do a lot of damage while you were running free. Thankfully you opened that door, allowing me to regain some semblance of control. I still can't wake up for some reason, and you have the answers, so start talking." ordered Naruto.

The man burst out in ruckus laughter, "Fool! You have no idea! Absolutely no idea of what you're dealing with!"

"Somebody body snatching fool is trying to take my body. I'm driving you out!" snarled Naruto.

"You're much too late! Your body already belongs to lord Talpa!" declared the man before he seemingly dissolved into nothing.

"Son of bitch! He was only the distraction!" cursed Naruto before he too vanished from sight.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto reappeared where he thought the caverns of his mental defenses should be, but he found nothing of the sort. Gone was the power plant basement like caverns that were the remnants of the seal. He now stood atop the outer walls of what on the surface appeared to be the palace of a daimyo. The main palace building was black in color and reached up over a dozen stories high into a dark ominous sky. The walls of the compound were sandy white with an ornate greyish blue trim. Naruto leaped down onto the sandy ground of the outer courtyard and a squadron of dynasty soldiers shot up out of the sand to confront him.

"Some welcoming committee..." snarled Naruto as he created a few dozen shadow clones to even out the numbers.

Leaving his clones to deal with the dynasty warriors, Naruto leaped ahead to the inner courtyard, only for a horde of nether spirits to come flooding out of the main tower to impeded his path.

"I don't have time to deal with your bullshit! **Armor of Wildfire Dao Jin!**" A familiar red glow engulfed Naruto as the armor formed around his body piece by piece, starting the legs, followed by the hands wrists and arms, then the torso and finally the headpiece appeared in his left head before he placed it on himself. He quickly withdrew his dual katanas from the sheaths on his back and the blades became engulfed in flame as he leaped into the air and started slicing and dicing his way through the nether spirits. The half of the horde not under direct assault, began a unintelligible chant and there eyes and bodies glowing with a dark purple energy before they fired a massive blast together at Naruto. The red armored ninja mage managed to keep the attack at bay while shielding himself with his blades before summoning a burst of strength to deflect the blast away from him. It carried off to the right and destroyed the center of both the inner and outer courtyard walls.

"Enough of this! If you won't come out and face me yourself, I'll blast you out!" roared Naruto as he stuck the hilts of the katanas together at their ends before raising them up behind his head as the blades glowed with energy. **"Flare Up Now!"**

Naruto swung his weapon forward and unleashed the massive red crescent wave of energy. The remaining spirits were obliterated by the blast as it carried on to the tower and cleaved the building in two. However, the building didn't collapse, it simply repaired itself as if nothing had happened.

"What the hell!" exclaimed Naruto.

A silhouette of Talpa's head appeared in front of the palace, _**"I've more important things to do than crush the insignificant pest that once housed this body. Face the wrath of one of my Netherworld generals, the Dark Warlord Sekhmet!"**_

Talpa's eyes glowed and shot a beam of light red energy at a point on the roof. The energy collected into a ball that formed into the man Naruto had pinned down in his mind earlier, decked out in the armor of Venom. Talpa's silhouette vanished, leaving the netherworld general behind. The Dark Warlord flung one of his six blades into the air, controlling it with a whip of red energy as he swung it around over his head before flinging it at Naruto.

**"Snake Fang Strike!" **As the blade approached Naruto it unleashed several jagged arcs of reddish orange energy that surprised the blond as he was focus on the blade. The energy attack nailed him in the chest, driving him into a courtyard wall, where the rubble collapsed on top of him.

"Your quest end here!" declared Sekhmet. "Prostrate yourself before my master and perhaps you can join the ranks of his netherworld spirits as reward for providing your body as his new vessel. That is if your are not foolish enough to continue your useless struggle! Mwahahaha-huh?"

His laughter soon turned to shock, as rays of red light started shining through the cracks of the rubble on top of Naruto moments before the blond burst forth his armor pulsing with the blink of an eye he reappeared right behind the dark warlord.

**"Blazing Dragon!"** roared Naruto as a bright red-orange flame engulfed the blades of his dual katanas. A left hand slash raked across his foes abdomen while simultaneously Naruto also executed a right handed slash across his chest. As his enemy twisted around from the blow, dual crisscrossing slashes raked across his back sending him propelling upwards into the air. Naruto then reappeared in the air directly above him, his ignited blades held crossed above his head. He swung the blades down, unleashing a spiraling dragon-headed blast of fire directly at the agent of Talpa, sending the Venom armored warrior crashing straight through the wall of the complex and smashing through several floors before he crashed somewhere near the bottom of the tower.

Another horde of nether world spirits flooded out of the upper levels of the compound. They began to chant again for several seconds as they became enveloped in violet auras of energy. After they finished chanting they raised their arms up and fired beams of energy at the dark warlord. The energy washed over his body and he and the armor began to feed off of it.

"Yes, grant me more power!" bellowed Sekhmet as his body healed and armor repaired while the spirits filled him with more and more energy. Naruto shielded his eyes as his foe's armor suddenly flashed with a bright red light.

Sekhmet was on him bring one of his blades down in an overhead strike. Naruto blocked with his left Katana before following with side slash with his right. The netherworld general leaped back to avoid the blow, creating some distance for Naruto to counter with a follow move. The blond brought both his katanas parallel to his left side and executed a double slashing attack.

**"Yoko Giri! (Demon Fox Slash!)"** Twin red lines of energy emitted from Naruto's blades as he executed the slash. Sekhmet managed to bring up two of his blades in front of him in a defensive position to block the attack, which sent him skidding back a few feet, but no worse for wear.

"Is that the best you can do?" mocked Sekhmet. "Then allow me to show you true power!"

The Netherworld General unsheathed to the blades at his sides, while commanding the other four sheathed on his back telepathically. The all floated into air above him, connected by a red strand of energy in his hand. He mimicked his previous attack, instead now there were six blades whipping around instead of one, **"Six Blade Style: Snake Fang Strike!"**

All the blades shot forward releasing even more powerful arcs of violent energy, the Naruto jumped into action to avoid. However, with six attacks instead of one there were just far too many attacks to avoid. Just as he was about to be struck from a four different directions, a vanished in a puff of smoke and was replaced by a kage bunshin that had survived the battle with the dynasty warriors and was lurking in the shadows. A few more replacements with the other two of three remaining shadow clones and Naruto was clear of the assault. The armored blond was also fed up the bastards trying to take over his own body. With a mental command from Naruto, the final clone attacked Sekhmet from his blind spot. The dark warlord was caught completely off guard as a Rasengan plowed into his chest and sent him crashing through a third story wall of the tower.

"This is my mind, my body, and my domain! This all ends right here, right now!" declared Naruto as he sheathed his blades ad leaped back down to the walls of the inner courtyard. The Wildfire armored blond raised his hands up above his head and gained an intense look of concentration and small red ball of light began to slowly swirl into existence in the air above him. The energy continued to collect and take shape and the swirling picked up speed. The form of a crimson rasengan about five times the size of Naruto came into existence, the sphere of fire containing the swirling energy gave it the appearance of a miniature red sun.

**"Wildfire Rasengan!"** Naruto swung his arms forward and the attack launched forward right into the heart of the complex. Sekhmet had just reemerged from the hole he'd been knocked through to come face to face with his incoming demise.

"Oh shit..." the stunned spirit muttered in shock just before he was vaporized by the heat of the attack. The attack glowed with a bright red light before exploding, enveloping everything in a furious red-orange flame.

_X-X-X-X-The-Real-World-X-X-X-X_

Gildarts stomped his left foot on the ground, using his crash magic to send a fissure through the ground that wiped out four of the dynasty soldiers as the fell into a deep schism. Before the others could even blink, he was right into from of them, using a dissassembly spell to reduce the remaining warriors to nothing but chunks of armor on the ground. The orange haired mage paid no mind to the netherworld spirits and their chantings, instead charging to take out their summoner. After winding for an earth shattered haymaker, Gildarts suddenly halted in his attack as Talpa suddenly collapsed to his knees grasping his head and the Netherworld spirits all suddenly vanished.

**"No! You stupid boy! This body is now mine! No!"** growled Talpa.

The armor started to glow red and steam as if was being overheated. The possessed body of Naruto rolled back and forth along the ground. Talpa struggled as Naruto momentarily to retook control of his body. Naruto's body rose to its feet making the brief the moment of control count as he formed a triangular symbol with his hands and a blue aura sprung up around his body, **"Shadow Secret Technique: Prism of Three!"**

Gildarts shielded his eyes from the bright flash of light caused by the technique. When he brought his arm down from covering his eyes, he found three Naruto's place of the one previously standing there. The stood in a circle, facing each other with the one closest to him still suited up in the Armor of Venom.

"Having my body isn't enough."spoke one of normal Narutos.

"With the years of training put in and all the techniques I've mastered you'll never be able to tap into my full potential." added the other.

**"Fool! Even in you are momentarily free, your power in your current form still pales in comparison to mine!"** retorted the Talpa possessed Naruto.

"I guess we'll have to do something about that!" announced the two Narutos. **"Armor of the Torrent/Halo! Dao Shin/Rei!"**

The flashes of green and blue light enveloped the pair and granted them the powers of the Armors they called upon.

**"Give it up boy!"** snarled Talpa. **"Even with your Armors, you are still no match for me."**

_'He's right. At normal strength, he stomp him no problem, but both Narutos are still weaker than him.'_ thought Gildarts.

"Who said we were done?" quipped the Naruto in the Halo armor.

The Naruto in the Torrent Armor smirked, "As we stated before, you know nothing about my true potential. There's an old technique I picked up several years ago while out on a training trip. I was just never able to put into practice due to special conditions until now."

Standing side by side the Naruto pair gave each other an affirmative nod and grunt as the paced off a few steps away from each other laterally. They then struck a pose that Gildarts recalled seeing long ago.

"He learned the fusion dance from the Metamoran tribe?" blurted the orange haired mage in surprise. "I thought only they could do it because of their body structures all being almost identical...Of course! Ha! He's the only person in the world who could benefit from fusing with him self!"

The pair performed a strange set of poses and movements, complete with a chant that ended with their index fingers connecting together.**  
**

**"Fu...sion! Ha!" **The moment their index fingers connected, they were enveloped in a bright pillar of energy.

"This is amazing..." muttered Gildarts in slight awe.

When the brightness of the light subsided it revealed Naruto, dressed loose white pants with a dark blue sash around his waste. His shins, ankles and feet were covered in a golden armor. His arms up to the shoulder were covered in same style of armor as his legs. A dark blue vest with orange padding around the shoulders and neck hung on his torso, leaving his bare chest exposed. His spiky blond hair locks stood on edge with a single lock dropping down in front of his face. A white aura coated his body, constantly giving off blue sparks of electricity.

**"Armor Fusion Mode: Hiraishin!" **announced Naruto. **"It's over for you Talpa! You picked the wrong mage to try and possess."**

Talpa was unfazed,** "It will take more than a silly light show and parlor tricks to defeat me. You have inconvenienced me at best. Are you really going to fight me boy?"**

Naruto narrowed his eyes before turning and vanishing in a flash in the opposite direction. Before Talpa could begin to gloat, he was suddenly struck by a white blur from behind. He looked down at his arm to find a piece of the armor missing. Out of nowhere the blur hit him again, and the armor covering his entire left arm was gone. He was hit again and again and again, each blow taking away a piece of the armor. After the last hit he stumbled backwards and fell on his ass.

This time Naruto stopped in front of him, his body twitching and vibrating rapidly as the electricity sparked chaotically around his body with the white aura. Suddenly he vanished again and all Talpa saw was four white flashes as he knocked up in the air and hit three times, taking even more of the armor off before he landed back on the ground.

_'Interesting outcome. I figured fusion of armors would create a sub element armor of some sort. Instead it's given him some kind of speed magic.'_ observed Gildarts.

Talpa looked upon Naruto with a befuddled expression as the blond had stopped once again to loom over him. Everything had happened so fast, it hadn't really registered that he was getting picked apart. He remained in the same state of shock and confusion as Naruto cocked his right fist back, lightning sparking violently around the limb as it suddenly blurred and vibrated. He brought the arm forward and delivered so many rapid punches it was as if he was drilling through the armor. The left arm soon joined the right and Talpa let out a roar of pain as he was forcefully expelled out of the body. Black smoke poured out from the mouth of the possessed body as the fused warrior brought his assault to an end.

Talpa's voice was nigh but a whisper,** "I'll be back for you boy..."**

The black smoke then dissipated into nothingness. The fused Naruto stood and looked down at himself strangely, "I feel kind of funny..."

Another bright flash of light emitted from him and he reverted back to two unarmored Naruto. Blue flashed of light covered each of them and they merged back into the Naruto on the gorund who was only clothed in a tattered pair of pants.

Gildarts chuckled as he strolled over to his unconscious friend, "Well, that was easy!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The defeat of Talpa ended the curse on the Island. Gildarts took a few more days to make sure the taint had been purged before departed the island with a still unconscious Naruto. Over on Galuna Island, Natsu and company had broken the curse of that island as well. However, the completion of the S-class job came with an immediate reminder of how much trouble they were in courtesy of Erza. Natsu's spirits were momentarily lifted when they arrived at their get away ship.

"Wow! We've got a pirate ship!" exclaimed Natsu as he and Happy looked upon Cana's ship with stars in their eyes.

"With a real hobo!" added Happy as he glanced at Virgil.

"Hey!" indignantly shouted Virgil.

Cana whacked Natsu across the back of the head, "You mean I've got a pirate ship. And you wreck one piece of wood and you're walking the plank."

Both the dragon slayer and cat saluted her, "Aye, Mam!"

"I thought you said Naruto was going to be here..." muttered Gray.

"He must be down below." replied Cana with a shrug.

As Natsu, Happy, Lucy, and Grey went around to explore the ship, Cana and Erza made their way down to the lower deck to see if Naruto was there. They found him still in his weakened state on the bed in the captain's quarters with a note stuck to his chest.

Erza picked up the note and read, "Possession and severe Dark Magic Exposure, should be fine with bed rest. Where did he go?"

Cana shrugged, "The old guy must have dropped him off before moving on."

The revelation of the 'old guy' being on a job with Naruto quickly clarified how he had somehow reached his poor state of health. A quick mental note was made by Erza to chew out Naruto once healthy and Gildarts the next time she saw him for returning the blond in such poor condition.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

At the Era site of the Mage Council, Ultear had returned from her escapades on Galiluna to reconvene with Siegrain. The councilman was especially interested in her battle with Natsu.

Ultear rubbed her swollen cheek, "I wasn't using half of my power, but he's still pretty damn talented. He'll only keep getting stronger with every challenge."

"That child of Igneel, just as I..." Seigrain suddenly paused and looked up as his eyes dulled for a moment. "Oh. It seems your favorite mage has finally acquired one of them."

Ultear gave him a blank look, "Huh?"

Seigrain grinned, "A piece of _that_ magic has been awakened, and you know the only guy who can do that. Why do you like that guy so much anyway?"

She shrugged, "He's interesting. I want to see what would happen to a guy like that if he managed to complete the set. His magic could possible rival his without being as pure as the brat you're so fond of."

Seigrain shook his head, "The Dragon Prince may suit your needs, but the child of Igneel must keep on burning for the sake of my dream..."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It turned out that Naruto would require more than some extended bed rest. On the return trip to Fairy Tail, the blond would only awaken for very short periods of time. Cana, Lucy, and Erza kept close watch over him in shifts. He would be awake and barely coherent enough for one of the girls to feed him before he passed out again. His body seemed to be weakened and drained of energy and on the night before they arrived he developed a high fever. Gray carried him back to the guild, using ice magic to keep him cooled. On their return they discovered that Phantom had attacked and damaged their guild building, but since no one was harmed in the attack, cooler heads prevailed concern for Naruto's well being took precedent.

Gildarts had already sent word back to the Master before their arrival. The Master to one look at the ill blond and escorted Gray, Cana, and Naruto to an old acquaintance of his who lived out in the forests east of Magnolia, Porlyusica. She's a healer who lived in recluse from humans, inside a tree house in the forest. From the moment they entered she began pestering them about how soon they were going to leave. Having Grey lay Naruto down on one of the beds, she quickly got to work trying to diagnose the problem. The three waited patiently as she administered various spells and concoctions to Naruto.

The old pink haired healer had just finished mixing some herbs into a solution before pouring it down Naruto's throat. After a moment, she checked his pulse before frowning at him and smacking him across the back of the head.

"Hey! What was that for! He's your patient!" shouted Gray.

Out of nowhere the healer picked up a broom and smacked him across the back of the head, "The stupid boy was already weakened from the possession and his body's exposure to the dark magic flooding his system. Instead of purging it from his system, he kept the poison magic and is integrating it into himself. His body was too weak to do so, so it was tearing itself apart in the process of healing and integrating the foreign magic all at once."

"So, what's the course of action?" asked Master Makarov.

She waved her hand dismissively, "I'll isolate the foreign magic until his body recovers, then it will do the rest on it's own. Now, go home."

Cana had enough of her trying to kick them out, "Now listen here, lady..."

Master raised a hand to silence her, "We'll get out your hair."

She merely glared at him, "What are you waiting for! Go on! Get!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

As Naruto lay recuperating, oblivious to the world, Phantom guild had struck again. Wrecking the guild wasn't good enough for them, so this time they brutally assaulted Jet, Droy, and Levi. The hung up their beaten and bloodied bodies up in the middle of Magnolia town for all to see. Lead by their infuriated master, the Fairy Tail mages stormed the Phantom Lord guild to send them a painful message about hurting their nakama. As the two guilds battle, an enraged, gigantic Makarov heads up ahead to personally battle Jose, the Master of Phantom Lord. Jose quickly reveals himself to only be an illusionary copy of himself using the Thought Projection technique, with his real body located elsewhere. The initiator of the guild war also informs Makarov that a battle between two of Ten Wizard Saints would cause too much damage and that the entire guild war was just a distraction and bonus to his true goal. He'd sent two members of Phantom Lord's Element 4, Juvia and Sol, to capture Lucy. He tricks Makarov again by creating Thought Projection of Lucy and with Jose's distraction, Aria of the Element 4 managed to drain Makarov of his magic with a Metsu spell. Chiding Makarov for not knowing who she really is despite being a member of his guild, he has Arai toss his weakened body into middle of the great hall stopping the battle. With their Master rendered unable to use magic, The Fairy Tail Mages retreated back to their guild with Master Makarov joining Naruto under the care of Porlyusica.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Upon his return to Phantom Headquarter, Jose made his way to Lucy's prison cell to pay her a visit, "Hello, I am Jose Porla, the Master of Phantom Lord. Sorry about tying you and up and putting you in this uncomfortable cell, but you are our captive after all."

"Don't try to place nice with me! Untie me now! You're the one behind what happened to Levy and the others!" shouted Lucy.

Jose shrugged uncaring, "There were merely casualties of war. No need for you to endure the same rough treatment. If you promise to behave during your stay with us, I can put you in a nice luxury suite."

"I don't care about any suit! Why did you attack Fairy Tail!" demanded Lucy.

"The attack itself was merely a bonus. Our true purpose was to capture a certain individual." informed Jose.

"Who would you go to all this trouble for!" yelled Lucy.

Jose just stared at her blankly as if she were an idiot, "Are you daft? Who else but you, the heir to the wealthy Heartfilia family. Did you reeally think you could hide yourself away iin obscurity?"

Lucy was stunned, "How did you know?"

Jose continued to chide her, "Running away from home and taking such low-class and dangerous jobs, those are not action befitting one of the daughter of one of the richest men in the country. You had to have known your father would eventually hire someone to find you?"

Tears started to form in Lucy's eyes, "My father would never have me captured!"

Jose waved his hand at her dismissively, "It's only natural for a father to search for his beautiful daughter."

"I'll never go back home!" cried Lucy.

Jose rolled his eyes, "You truly are a troublesome girl. Cry all you want, I'm not letting you go."

Taking a moment to gather herself, Lucy tried the indirect approach, "Can I use the bathroom."

Jose scoffed and pointed at a bucket in the corner of the cell while muttering, "How classic."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "It's so obvious, I wouldn't be able to catch anyone off guard with it."

Jose just stared at her blankly and continued to point at the bucket. Let out a huff of annoyance, Lucy stomped over to the bucket and squatted down above it. He let out a gasp of disgust and turned around as she prepared to use it in front of him, "I thought you were bluffing. You really are a shameless young girl. A gentleman like myself shall not be soiled by your presence!"

With his back turned, he was rewarded with a kick to the nuts.

"I guess sometimes the classics are best after all!" smugly stated Lucy. "See ya later!"

Running to the window and opening it, she finds that they are not close to ground, but ten stories above it.

"Foolish girl!" gasped Jose. "This is our sky prison! Ten Stories High! There is no escape!"

He shakily rose to his feet with a menacing smile forming across his face, "How dare you attack me after I've been so polite to you! I'm going to punish you and show you the true atrocity of Phantom!"

Lucy grinned at him before shrieking, "PERVERT!"

Jose made it three steps towards her before he was rewarded with a double kick to the nuts courtesy of Kyuubi and Mirajane. Lucy had been aware of their presence in the tower, her shriek alerting them of her position.

"Come on, let's get out here." said Kyuubi as she helped Lucy out of her restraints.

Mira gave the whimpering Jose one last kick for good measure before the three girls fled the tower.

"How dare those bitches do this to me!" gasped Jose. "I will make them pay!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Back at the damaged headquarters of Fairy Tail, there was a great sense of frustration. Everyone tended to both physical wounds and the emotional wounds of being forced to retreat. Those who could still fight were drawing up battle plans and arming themselves with weapons for another strike.

A great feeling of depression had come over Lucy. It was weighing down on her, all the things that had happened just because her father sent Phantom Lord after her.

"Hey it's not your fault! It's phantom's!" reminded Elfman.

"I don't know. Maybe it's best for everyone if I return home." muttered Lucy.

"Meh, being a lady doesn't suit you anyway." said Natsu.

Lucy shot him a look, "What!"

As if oblivious to the connotation of what he just said, Natsu grinned, "You fit in way better here laughing happily and going off on adventures with everyone! You want to stay here, so stay here! It's useless returning to a place that you hate. you're Lucy from Fairy Tail, this is your home."

Striking right to the heart of the matter, the truth of his words brought her to tears.

"Don't go crying n us now." mumbled Gray.

"He's right men are weak to tears!" exclaimed Elfman as he started to tear up as well.

Across the bar, Cana threw her hands up in frustration, knocking her tarot cards off the table, "This is no good, I can't find Mystogan anywhere. We need more people here. With Lucy as their target they will attack again for sure and we're already down too many people."

Giving up on her search, she turned her attention to Lisanna talking to Luxus on the Communication La'cryma, "Master is seriously wounded and Naruto is still recovering. We can't locate Mystogan, so we need your help, Luxus."

"Serves that punk and that shitty geezer right! Hahaha!" bellowed Luxus.

"Please come back immediately, it's an emergency." pleaded Lisanna.

"It doesn't have anything to do with me. Handle it yourself." retorted Luxus.

"You bastard!" shouted Cana.

"It's all the geezer's fault anyway. He started this mess, he should clean it up." countered Luxus.

Lisanna shook her head, "Actually, it's our comrade Lucy who is being targeted."

"Huh? Who is that?" muttered Luxus. "Oh that blond, big boobed newbie! I tell you what if she becomes my-"

Luxus was cut off as Kyuubi shattered the La'cryma, "It's useless listening to that guy spouting off a bunch of bullshit."

"We're here to fight too this time." declared Mirajane. "We don't need him."

Cana sighed, "I've taken into account having you two, but we still lost the Master. Having him around covers up for a lot of weaknesses. Even if Naruto isn't strong enough to take down Master Jose, having his endless supply of extra man power would tip it heavily in our favor."

"Right now the battle is even or slightly in their favor. With one more of our tops guns, we'd send them packing easy." added Lisanna. "And less people would get hurt on our side."

Their discussion was cut off by several loud banging noises that shook the guild.

"Shit! Everyone, that's coming from outside!" shouted Arzak from the entrance.

Everyone rushed outside to see what was going on. Their eyes widened and jaws all dropped in shock when the found the Phantom Guild Headquarters getting propelled by six mechanical legs, and heading right towards them.

"Their guild is walking..." mumbled a stunned Elfman.

"We are so screwed..." muttered Macau.

Ezra was at the front of the crowd, anxiously gritting her teeth, "I never even imagined the possibility of them attacking us like this."

Mirajane was right behind her, "What the hell are we going to do now?"

Kyuubi let out a roar of frustration, "DAMMIT! NARUTO! WHY AREN'T YOU HERE!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Back in her tree house, Porlyusica finished stirring up a medication and poured it down the throat of a sweating Makarov. Pressing her hand to his forehead, she felt his fever begin to break. Putting to down the tea cup with the medicine, she turned and frowned at Makarov before slapping him across the face.

"Rushing into things without considering your age." she muttered. "Look at you now, such a fool. If you don't try your best, you could really die like this."

Sighing, she picked up another cup to go and administer medicine to Naruto, but she found his bed empty. Looking towards the window she was almost blinded by a bright flash of light from outside. Taking a peek out the window, she didn't see any trace of him.

"I'm the one that does all the hard work and heals the boy, and then he runs off before he's full healed." grumbled Porlyusica as she walked back over to Makarov and slapped him again. "Rushing off before he's fully recovered. No doubt you've encouraged that type of stupidity. You're a guild full of fools..."

Although her words harsh, the look in her eyes conveyed her great amount of concern.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Atop one of the towers of Phantom Lord, Jose looked across the waters at Fairy Tail with no mercy, "Prepare the magical convergent canon, Jupiter. Command: Obliterate."

The front panel atop one of the towers flipped back to reveal the canon as it began to charge up with power.

Mirajane summed up everyone's collective thoughts as the canon started charging, "Oh shit."

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" yelled Erza as she rushed forward.

"What are you going to do?"

"She's using Ex-quip!"

"Holy crap! That's her Herculian Armor! Her strongest defensive magic!"

Erza stopped at the edge of the water, standing strong in her armor, "I REFUSE TO LET YOU DESTROY OUR GUILD!"

"Get out of the way! That thing can kill you!" shouted Mirajane.

Erza ignored her, remaining firm in her defense of the guild.

"It's ready, sir!" informed the canon operator with the Phantom control tower.

"Obliterate." coldly commanded Jose again.

Just as the canon was about to fire, the Fairy mages all felt something streak right past them. All the could see was the wake it left behind in the water and then a white flash that appeared below the canon before its barrel was suddenly knocked upwards. The blast fired off harmlessly across the skies.

The enraged Jose nealry popped a blood vessel as he caught sight of the figure that had stopped his attack. Down oon top of the water in front of Erza, stood Naruto decked out in his Hiraishin Armor, and he was pissed off. Most of the Fairy mages where a bit shell shocked by the sight of one of their S-class Aces showing up in such a dramatic fashion. Natsu was not one of them, the pink haired dragon slayer trembled with excitement because he knew it was finally time for some serious payback.

Naruto turned his glare he'd be sending at Jose, on his comrades, "What are you all standing there like a bunch of dumbasses for? Let's crush the pansy Phantoms!"

"Fuck yeah!" shouted Natsu.

This provoked a collective shout of, "HELL YEAH!"

Cana grinned as she looked around at everyone, with the confidence and fighting spirit of their guild restored, phantom didn't stand a chance.

"Happy!" shouted Natsu.

"Aye!" replied the cat as he sprouted wings, grabbed Natsu, and took off on a low fly across the water. In a white flash, Naruto appeared next to them, both slayers ready to unleash massive havoc on Phantom.

* * *

It's back! Been gone fromt his story way too long, got distracted by other projects. I'll try tighten up the update schedule, so it's not months until the next one. At least once a month updates. The main reason I updated, is that the Hiraishin Armor idea came to me and wouldn't go away. Anyway, drop a review and let me know of any other possible armor fusion combinations you can think of. I already have one other in mind for Wind and Fire.


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